Canada has ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in the country after conducting a security review, but users will not be barred from accessing the video app or uploading content to it.
The Canadian government said it was demanding the winding up of TikTok’s business in the country due to “specific national security risks”. It currently has offices in Vancouver and Toronto.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry.
Champagne added that the government was not blocking citizens’ access to TikTok or their ability to post content on the platform. TikTok has been banned from government-issued phones in Canada, the US, the UK, New Zealand and Australia amid concerns about the Chinese-owned app’s access to user data.
Champagne’s statement did not give details of the security concerns behind the move but referred to risks related to ByteDance, the Beijing-based owner of the app, and its operations in Canada through TikTok Technology Canada.
“It is important for Canadians to adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors,” said Champagne.
A TikTok spokesperson said
: “Shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of well-paying local jobs is not in anyone’s best interest, and today’s shutdown order will do just that. We will challenge this order in court. TikTok takes data privacy concerns very seriously.”
TikTok faces the threat of a full ban in US where the White House has introduced a law that gives ByteDance, until 19 January to sell its stake in the platform to an approved buyer, otherwise the app will be shut down. The president-elect, Donald Trump, who tried to force a sale of TikTok during his first administration, has said on the campaign trail he would “save” it.
TikTok has also launched a lawsuit against the US law, arguing that it is breaches the first amendment protecting free speech.
