The federal government ordered an end to TikTok’s Canadian operations on Wednesday, citing national security concerns. But its decision to keep the app itself available has privacy experts puzzled.
The order to shut down the social media platform’s Vancouver and Toronto offices came after a months-long national security review of the app.
The federal government banned TikTok from government devices in February 2023.
How big a deal is this?
For most Canadians, the decision to end the social media platform’s operations in the country will go largely unnoticed.
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said those directly affected by the decision are TikTok employees, most of whom aren’t Canadian citizens.
With the social media platform’s Canadian operations ending, those workers will be required to leave the country, depending on their status.
A spokesperson for TikTok said in an email Wednesday that the company plans to take legal action.
“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,” the company said. “We will challenge this order in court.”
Should Canadians stop using TikTok?
It’s at their discretion.
Champagne told CBC News that Canadians will have to “draw their own conclusions” about TikTok, but as with any social media app, they should be mindful of their use.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has warned Canadians against using TikTok.
Former CSIS director David Vigneault told CBC in an interview it’s “very clear” from the app’s design that data gleaned from its users “is available to the government of China.”
“As an individual, I would say that I would absolutely not recommend someone have TikTok,” Vigneault said at the time.
Tiktok collects data on users, such as their location, IP address, search history and how they engage with content on the platform, according to the company’s privacy policy.
Philip Mai, co-director of the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Social Media Lab, said that personal data collected by platforms like TikTok, Facebook and X can be easily harnessed later to build a profile of users and potentially compromise them.
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.’
The main security concern about TikTok, Mai said, lies in the fact that the company that owns it — ByteDance — is subject to the Chinese government.
He said the worry is that ByteDance could be forced by Beijing to turn over user data to the Chinese government, and “we’d never know until it’s too late.”
“There is no public evidence yet of any harm” for Canadian TikTok users, Mai said. “That doesn’t mean that there has been no harm. It just means that we haven’t seen it yet.”
Leaked audio from internal TikTok meetings shows that U.S. user data is repeatedly accessed from China. TikTok’s parent company allegedly helped build China’s system for cracking down on Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic group in the Xinjiang province. A former employee alleges it also helped authorities track protesters in Hong Kong.
David Shipley, CEO of Fredericton-based Beauceron Security, said social media users can be presented with videos and images without knowing why those messages are being amplified.
“Make no mistake. These things can be weaponized,” he said. “It’s not just China, of course.”
Shipley added that those controlling social media algorithms determine what sorts of narratives users are exposed to, which shapes their “perception of the world … And that benefits people and not necessarily you.”
“We live in a hostile information environment and arming countries that do not have our interests [at heart] with tools to directly influence the minds of Canadians is a stupid, bad idea,” he said.
How does this compare to the potential U.S. TikTok ban?
U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill into law in April 2023 requiring ByteDance to either sell the social media platform by Jan. 19, 2025 or see TikTok banned in the U.S.
TikTok has described that law as an infringement on the free speech rights of its users, most of whom use the app for entertainment.
“We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail,” the company wrote on the social platform X.
Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law, said shutting down TikTok’s operations in Canada might make enforcing privacy laws more difficult.
“It is really puzzling to take an approach that seems to weaken enforcement, to weaken some of the other public policy objectives that the government has, and doesn’t seem to do really anything to the underlying security and privacy-related concerns,” he said.
When enforcing the law, it’s useful to have companies with a physical presence in the country, Geist said.
“You want to have someone that you can deal with, that you can sometimes serve legal papers to,” Geist said. “That’s much tougher if the company isn’t even operating here.”
Why not ban the app altogether if it poses a security risk?
On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the decision to end TikTok’s Canadian operations was based on a recommendation from intelligence authorities and police forces.
“We’ve been preoccupied by the activities of the corporate entity of TikTok Canada based out of Vancouver,” Joly said, adding that the decision sends “a message” to China.
“The TikTok that is in Canada through social media is based out of Singapore and so it is not part of this decision that my colleague François-Philippe Champagne just announced.”
The federal government announced Wednesday it’s ordering TikTok to close its operations in Canada, but Canadians can still download and use the app. On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said the federal government was ‘preoccupied by the activities of the corporate entity of TikTok Canada.’
Mai said he suspects that with a federal election around the corner, the federal government may not be keen to upset young voters who are more likely to use TikTok.
“It looks like they might be slow-walking the TikTok ban,” Mai said. “To bring Canada in line with our Five Eyes partners, they may have to ban the app completely, but that would be way after the election.”