TikTok’s CEO is requesting an urgent meeting with Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly to discuss the federal government’s order for the company to shut down its Canadian operations.
According to a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, TikTok CEO Shou Chew wrote to Joly on July 2, requesting an in-person meeting within two weeks.
Chou argued that Canada’s shutdown order came at a time when it looked as if the United States was about to ban TikTok.
“This outdated and counterproductive government order serves no purpose. It was issued under another administration, in another era, and does not reflect today’s realities,” the letter read.
Last November, Ottawa ordered the dismantling of TikTok’s Canadian operations following a national security review of TikTok’s parent company, China’s ByteDance Ltd.
While TikTok has been told to wind down its Canadian operations, Canadians can continue to use the app.
Zhou Shouzi believes that implementing last November’s directive would make Canada an exception among its allies, including other countries in the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance.
He said the order appears to be based on “assumptions about TikTok’s future in the United States that no longer hold true.”
Canada launched a national security review in the fall of 2023 but did not disclose it until March 2024, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok if ByteDance did not divest its shares.
But in June of this year, U.S. President Donald Trump extended the deadline for banning TikTok in the United States for a third time. In a July 2 letter, Chow said that if Joly did not intervene, the company would soon be forced to lay off more than 350 employees in Canada, cease direct investment in Canada, and cut support for Canadian creators and culture.
“The liquidation process is rapidly approaching a critical juncture,” he wrote.
On July 7, TikTok announced it would no longer sponsor several Canadian arts organizations, including the Juno Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
A spokesperson for Minister Joly did not respond to questions about whether it had responded to the letter or planned to meet with Chow.
TikTok is challenging the shutdown order in Federal Court. It launched the legal challenge in December, arguing that the government-ordered “measures lack a reasonable connection to the national security risks it has identified.”
Ottawa’s national security review is conducted through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment that could harm national security.
Former Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the government was taking action to address “specific national security risks,” but he did not specify what those risks were.
Privacy and security concerns about TikTok and ByteDance primarily focus on China’s national security law, which compels domestic organizations to assist in intelligence gathering.
Chow said there is no evidence that TikTok poses a security threat to Canada and that the government has shown no interest in discussing solutions.
He said the government’s concerns could be addressed through measures such as strengthened data security protocols and additional transparency and oversight.
Chow said in the letter that the shutdown order will keep TikTok accessible to Canada’s 14 million users, but the company will “no longer have a presence or representation in Canadian jurisdictions.”
He said the company’s Canadian employees have appeared before parliamentary committees, engaged with regulators, trained Canadian law enforcement on how to submit lawful access requests, and worked with Elections Canada during the federal election. He wrote, “TikTok’s presence in Canada means having a local team accountable to Canadian policymakers and authorities.”
- https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/tiktok-ceo-asks-meet-industry-100001388.html