Ottawa orders the liquidation of the Canadian branch of TikTok

The federal government on Wednesday ordered the dissolution of the TikTok subsidiary in Canada, without banning access to this application.

This decision was taken due to the specific risks to national security posed by the activities carried out by ByteDance Ltd. in Canada through TikTok Technology Canada Incspecifies the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry in a press release.

The ministry specifies that this decision was made based on the information and evidence gathered through the review, but also thanks advice provided by Canadian national security and intelligence agencies and other government partners.

We are talking about offices and operations that are carried out in Canada, but that does not affect the application which remains available to citizens.

However, the government invites users to assess the risks linked to the use of such platforms, particularly with regard to the protection, management, use and exchange of their personal information by foreign actors.

In an interview with -, Mr. Champagne specified that TikTok Technology Canada Inc had two offices in the country, in Vancouver and Toronto, with a majority of employees not being Canadian citizens. They may eventually have to leave the country.

Ottawa's decision was made under the Canada Investment Act, which allows for the review of foreign investments that could harm Canada's national security. The regulations do not allow the minister to give more details, in particular on whether the company's employees participated in acts of foreign interference on Canadian soil.

TikTok will challenge this order

A TikTok spokesperson noted in a statement that closing its Canadian offices would result in the loss of hundreds of well-paying jobs.

We will challenge this order in court. The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests, and enable businesses to thrive.

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but that information was not publicly released until The Canadian Press reported last March that the government was investigating the company.

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were a lightning rod for privacy and security concerns, as China's national security laws require the country's organizations to help with intelligence collection.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill last March to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sold its stake in the company.

Mr. Champagne's office says Canada's review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has not yet been passed.

The Trudeau government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

With information from La Presse Canadienne, Christian Noël and Valérie Gamache