As it continues to battle a U.S. sell-off bill, which could see it booted from America next month, TikTok is also fighting to maintain its operations in Canada, after Canadian officials also deemed the company to be a security risk.
Last month, the Canadian government issued an order for TikTok to dissolve its Canadian business, citing national security risks. Canadian officials are not seeking to ban the app in the region, but they have called for TikTok’s local business to shut down, and move out of the nation.
Why?
Well, much like U.S. officials, Canadian regulators have cited unspecified security concerns.
As explained by Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne:
“The decision we took was to protect the national security of Canada, and on the basis of the analysis that we conducted with our security services, we came to the conclusion that these activities that were conducted in Canada by TikTok at their offices would be injurious to national security.”
Yeah, that’s pretty vague, alluding to some form of surveillance or manipulation that occurs not within the app itself, but in the company’s local offices.
Not sure what that means in practice, but now, TikTok is challenging the Canadian Government’s action, claiming that it will eliminate hundreds of jobs in the nation.
As per The Toronto Sun:
“The company filed documents in Federal Court in Vancouver on Dec. 5, seeking to set aside the order to wind-up and cease business in Canada. [TikTok] claims the minister’s decision was “unreasonable” and “driven by improper purposes.”
So more legal challenges for TikTok’s team. The company’s legal expenses this year must be massive.
If this challenge is successful, TikTok would be allowed to remain in Canada, and operate its business as normal, though again, even it if doesn’t succeed, TikTok won’t be banned for Canadian users.
Yeah, it’s an odd one, considering that any theoretical manipulation of citizens would presumably occur within the app, while data gathering wouldn’t need to be done within a local office.
But Canadian officials obviously have their reasons for concern, though the fact that the app will remain available either way does make this a less impactful legal process, at least from an external user perspective.
The removal order will now hinge on the outcome of this case.
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