KUALA LUMPUR — Canada has ordered a shutdown of TikTok’s offices and business operations in the country, but is allowing users there to continue accessing the app to create and post content.
The decision to shut the platform’s operations are based on “national-security risks”, Canada’s Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement, reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
TikTok’s two offices – in Toronto and Vancouver – will be affected. Owned by China’s ByteDance, it has been operating in Canada through TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
Champagne said Ottawa had information and evidence that surfaced during a national security review, and also received advice from security and intelligence officials.
“We came to the conclusion that these activities that were conducted in Canada by TikTok and their offices would be injurious to national security,” Champagne said in separate comments to CBC.
The decision to allow users to continue accessing the platform, however, is made based on social media usage being a “personal choice”, the minister’s official statement had said.
But, he urged Canadians to use TikTok “with eyes wide open.”
The government’s decision is in line with its Investment Canada Act which allows authorities to hold stricter review of foreign investments deemed potentially harmful to the country’s security.
In a response, a TikTok spokesperson told CBC the company plans to take legal action.
Canada last year began a security review of TikTok’s investment and expansion plans in the country.
Ottawa had banned the app from all government devices since February last year.
In the US, TikTok and ByteDance have taken legal action to block a law to end its Chinese-based ownership signed by US President Joe Biden, which gives ByteDance a deadline to sell the short-video platform or face a ban. – November 7, 2024