TikTok has been forced to close its offices in Vancouver and Toronto because Canadian security and intelligence officials said activity at the offices threatened the national security of Canada, a charge that TikTok plans to fight in court.
The social media and video app, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, had already been banned from Canadian government phones. Canadian officials did not provide specifics but said a national security review of the two offices led them to shut them down.
“We came to the conclusion that these activities that were conducted in Canada by TikTok and their offices would be injurious to national security. I’m not at liberty to go into much detail,” Canadian Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
Canadian users will still be able to download, access and use TikTok on their own devices, though Mr. Champagne told the CBC that his countrymen should use it “with eyes wide open.”
TikTok plans to take legal action to reverse the closure of the two offices.
“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 said in a statement on its website Wednesday.
In the United States, a law signed by President Biden earlier this year mandates that ByteDance sell TikTok, the sister app to China’s Douyin, by Jan. 19, 2025, according to Reuters.
The company has already taken legal action in the U.S. to try and block the law.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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