Canada closes Tiktok's offices, but not the app

On the advice of the intelligence services, Canada's government orders the closure of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of the Chinese Bytedance Group. Such orders are possible if foreign direct investment could violate the national security of the monarchy. Like the EU, Canada also banned Tiktok from civil servants' cell phones last year. However, private use of the video app remains possible in Canada.

The closure of the Tiktok offices in Toronto and Vancouver will not change this. "The government is not blocking Canadians' access to the Tiktok app or the ability to provide content," emphasizes Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne from the Liberal minority government, "It is a personal decision to use an app or platform for a social network." This is not a recommendation. The minister referred to advice from the IT security department of the CSE (Communications Sercutiy Establishment), which is intended to help citizens better assess the potential risks of communication programs.

The decision to wind down the subsidiary is based on a "multi-level investigation (from a) national security perspective", says the Minister: "The Government is taking action to address the specific national security risks associated with Bytedance's operations in Canada through the establishment of TikTok Technology Canada. This decision is based on information and evidence gathered during the investigation and the advice of Canadian intelligence agencies and other government partners."

Tiktok fights in court

Tiktok announced in a short statement that it will take legal action against the order. The company does not address the government's concerns. Instead, it points out that the closure of the Canadian offices would cost "hundreds of well-paid jobs". Exactly how many employees Tiktok has in Canada is not publicly known. The company has around 80 job vacancies online, but not every advertisement is necessarily a job vacancy.

Canada's government did not have to wait long for criticism from third parties either. Canadian video producers are seeing their skins swim away. In some countries, including Germany and the USA, Tiktok gives particularly successful video suppliers with at least 10,000 followers a share of the advertising revenue. This offer does not exist in Canada, and now it is even less likely that Tiktok will pay out any money there in the foreseeable future.

"There may well be good reasons to ban the app if its risk to security and privacy is different than other platforms," says Canadian law professor Michael Geist,"But banning the company instead of the app makes matters worse because the risks posed by the app remain, but the ability to hold the company accountable is weakened."

The employees of Tiktok's Canadian subsidiary "are concerned with the safety of Canadian users and children, supporting Canadian producers, liaising with Canadian authorities, countering foreign interference and ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada," adds Nova Scotia privacy lawyer David Fraser. He therefore considers the official closure order to be "remarkably stupid".

Inadequate data protection

The closure order could make sense if its aim is not to combat threats emanating from the app, but threats emanating from the branch. The Canadian intelligence services may have come to the conclusion that Tiktok employs too many people in Canada who are classified as suspicious or that the branch serves as a cover for undesirable activities or money flows.

However, if the government is concerned about the app, a strict data protection law would be much more helpful. Discussions about privacy and national security concerns should "remind us that most social media apps are unacceptably invasive-by-design, treat users as raw material for personal data surveillance, and fail at transparency in data sharing," Ronald Deibert, head of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, noted last year, "so we urgently need comprehensive privacy legislation."

Although an attempt to do so has been tabled in parliament, the government has linked it to its ideas for regulating artificial intelligence, which is slowing down data protection. New elections are now looming, as the minority government is on shaky ground.

(ds)