TikTok’s Canada unit wants court review of shut-down order

TikTok’s Canadian unit said it has filed an emergency motion with Canada’s Federal Court seeking a judicial review of an order that the company shut down its operations in the country on national security concerns.

The Chinese-owned social media app requested the court set aside a government order requiring TikTok to wind-up its business in Canada, a filing dated Dec. 5 showed.

Alternatively, it said the court could set aside the order and return it to the government for review along with guidance.

A spokesperson for Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry said in a statement that the government stood by its decision requiring TikTok to wind up its business in Canada.

“The Government’s decision was informed by a thorough national security review and advice from Canada’s security and intelligence community”, the spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Ottawa began investigating TikTok’s plan to invest and expand its business in Canada last year. The review led to a government order last month that required the firm to end its Canadian operations because of national security concerns.

Closing its Canadian business would lead to hundreds of job losses, TikTok argued in its statement on the legal challenge.

“We believe it’s in the best interest of Canadians to find a meaningful solution and ensure that a local team remains in place, alongside the TikTok platform,” it said on Tuesday.

Under Canadian law, the government can assess potential risks to national security from foreign investments, such as the TikTok proposal. The law prevents the government from revealing the details of such investments.

Last month’s order stopped short of blocking Canadians’ access to the popular social media platform. TikTok has more than 14 million monthly users in Canada, according to the company.

The Canadian order followed similar action in the U.S. where President Joe Biden in April signed a law requiring Bytedance, which owns TikTok, to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19, 2025 or face a nationwide ban.

On Monday, TikTok and Bytedance separately asked an appeals court to temporarily block the law pending a Supreme Court review.

—Rhea Rose Abraham, Kanjyik Ghosh, and Chandni Shah, Reuters