Canada’s federal court has invalidated a government directive to shut down TikTok’s operations in Canada, allowing the popular short-form video app to continue functioning for now. Federal court judge Russel Zinn made a brief ruling on Wednesday, setting aside the closure order and returning the matter to Industry Minister Mélanie Joly for further assessment without providing specific reasons.
A spokesperson from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada informed CBC News via email that the matter will now undergo a new national security review under Minister Joly’s supervision. Due to confidentiality regulations outlined in the Investment Canada Act, the spokesperson refrained from elaborating further on the review process.
TikTok expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision to rescind the shutdown order, as reported to Radio-Canada by a company representative. The spokesperson expressed optimism about collaborating with the minister to reach a resolution that benefits the over 14 million Canadian TikTok users. Maintaining TikTok’s Canadian workforce will facilitate ongoing investments worth millions of dollars in Canada and sustain numerous local job opportunities.
In November 2024, Canada’s industry ministry had directed the dissolution of TikTok’s operations, citing national security concerns while ensuring that user access and content creation remained unaffected. TikTok contested this decision, leading to the recent court ruling.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has been advocating for stronger ties with China to counter the adverse effects of U.S. tariffs on the Canadian economy. Countries like Canada have been closely monitoring TikTok amid apprehensions that Beijing could leverage the app to gather user data or promote its own agenda, given that TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
In a related development, TikTok committed to enhancing its safeguards to prevent minors from accessing its Canadian platform following an investigation that revealed shortcomings in its child protection and data privacy measures in September.
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