The federal government of Canada has required TikTok proprietor ByteDance to close down its Canadian subsidiary, TikTok Know-how Canada, Inc.
The Chinese language firm should shut its places of work in Toronto and Vancouver.
The choice was introduced by François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Trade on November 6. It was made underneath the Funding Canada Act, which allows the evaluation of international investments that would hurt Canada’s nationwide safety.
ByteDance: TikTok Canada’s Closure Dangerous to Native Jobs
Champagne stated the order outcomes from a “multi-step nationwide safety evaluation course of” by the Canadian authorities safety and intelligence neighborhood.
Following this evaluation, which lasted from March to November 2024, the Canadian authorities concluded that ByteDance Ltd.’s operations in Canada pose nationwide safety dangers.
The minister didn’t share particulars in regards to the dangers he referred to.
ByteDance has criticized the choice and indicated it intends to problem it in court docket.
“Closing TikTok’s Canadian places of work and destroying lots of of well-paid native jobs is in nobody’s curiosity, and that is exactly what right this moment’s closure order will do,” a spokesperson of the Chinse group informed press company AFP.
TikTok Nonetheless Accessible in Canada
Regardless of the shutdown, the TikTok app will nonetheless be accessible to customers in Canada, for each consuming and producing content material.
“The choice to make use of a social media utility or platform is a private selection,” Champagne stated.
Nonetheless, he highlighted the necessity for Canadians to undertake good cyber safety practices, together with a risk-based method to social media that takes into consideration how their data is more likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by international actors, in addition to to concentrate on which nation’s legal guidelines apply.
The Canadian authorities gives steerage to assist web customers defend their on-line life.
Issues Over ByteDance’s Ties with Beijing
The Canadian authorities’s issues about TikTok stem from escalating safety and privateness points tied to the app’s connections to the Chinese language authorities.
In late 2022, the US banned TikTok on authorities telephones. Canada adopted swimsuit in February 2023, and the EU Fee and the UK in March.
“Whereas Canada continues to welcome international direct funding, the federal government will act decisively when investments threaten our nationwide safety,” concluded the minister.
