TikTok has challenged a Canadian government order to shut down the Chinese video-sharing app's business operations in the country over national security concerns. The company filed an application for a judicial review with the Federal Court in Vancouver seeking to set aside the order for TikTok to wind-up and cease its business in Canada.
The Canadian federal government announced last month that it was ordering the dissolution of TikTok Technology Canada Inc. after a national security review of its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. Despite this, access to the TikTok app will not be blocked, and it will continue to be available to Canadians. TikTok boasts 14 million users in Canada, which accounts for about a third of the population, and maintains offices in Toronto and Vancouver.
Owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2020, TikTok is facing mounting pressure in the West. It is at risk of a potential ban in the U.S. and is under increasing scrutiny in Europe for various issues, including alleged election influence campaigns coordinated by Moscow.
In its court application, TikTok argues that Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne's decision was 'unreasonable' and 'driven by improper purposes.' The company claims that the order is 'grossly disproportionate' and that the national security review was 'procedurally unfair.' The review was conducted under the Investment Canada Act, which empowers the government to investigate foreign investments that could pose national security risks.
Champagne stated that the government's action was taken to address 'specific national security risks,' without providing further details. In response to TikTok's filing, his office emphasized that the decision was based on a 'thorough national security review and advice from Canada’s security and intelligence community.'
TikTok contends that Champagne did not engage with TikTok Canada on the concerns that led to the order. The company argues that the government's prescribed measures lack a rational connection to the identified national security risks and that the reasons for the order are 'unintelligible' and 'rife with logical fallacies.'
The platform asserts that there were 'less onerous' alternatives to shutting down its Canadian operations, highlighting the potential loss of hundreds of jobs, disruption of business contracts, and the destruction of significant economic opportunities.
