Citing national security concerns, the federal government has ordered TikTok to close its Canadian operations — but users will still be able to access the popular app.
“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,” Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a media statement on Wednesday.
TikTok’s two Canadian offices, in Toronto and Vancouver, now have to “wind down,” he said.
The statement stressed that the government is not blocking Canadians from accessing the app or using it to create content.
“The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice,” the statement said. “It is important for Canadians to adopt good cyber security 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, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
U.S. lawmakers have contended that TikTok owner ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s U.S. consumers through Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is also accused of helping to build China’s system for cracking down on the Uyghur minority, and of targeting protesters in Hong Kong.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has warned Canadians, including teenagers, against using TikTok.
Former CSIS director David Vigneault told CBC News it’s “very clear” from the app’s design that data gleaned from its users “is available to the government of China” and its large-scale data harvesting goals.
“Most people can say, ‘Why is it a big deal for a teenager now to have their data [on TikTok]?’ Well in five years, in 10 years, that teenager will be a young adult, will be engaged in different activities around the world,” he said at the time.
“As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok.”
CSIS director David Vigneault says using TikTok is risky and the potential for the government of China to access personal data from the social media platform poses a ‘threat to the way we live.’
In February 2023, the Canadian government banned the social media platform from all government devices. Later that year, it ordered a national security review of the app.
Wednesday’s statement was the result of that review, which Champagne said involved “rigorous scrutiny by Canada’s national security and intelligence community.”
TikTok has long maintained that its servers are outside of China and beyond the control of the Chinese Communist Party, and that it follows Canadian data protection and privacy laws.