Canada Letter: Canada (sort of) bans TikTok

TikTok's offices in Toronto and Vancouver are shut but Canadians can still download and use the app.

View in browser|nytimes.com November 9, 2024 Canada Sends Mixed Signals With TikTok Shutdown Order By Ian Austen This week Canada shut down TikTok — but not in the way that some people had been expecting. [Read: Canada Shuts TikTok's Offices Over National Security Risks] Canada has ordered TikTok to close its offices in Toronto and Vancouver. Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press After a foreign investment review, François-Philippe Champagne, the industry minister, ordered the closure of TikTok's offices in Vancouver and Toronto that sell advertising and provide technical support and development for the app. Exactly why the government acted remains foggy. And during a news conference the day after, Mr. Champagne repeatedly emphasized that Canada wasn't banning use of the app itself by Canadians. (The government previously banned its use on government-issued phones.) The announcement said the decision to shut down TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, had come after "rigorous scrutiny by Canada's national security and intelligence community." Citing security laws, Mr. Champagne said he couldn't tell reporters anything about what that review had unearthed. When pressed at the news conference about why it was OK for Canadians to keep using TikTok despite the apparent security threat, Mr. Champagne avoided answering and again pointed to legal limitations. His powers, he said, are restricted to reviewing and approving or rejecting investments by foreign companies in Canada — in other words, apps are not his department. But Mr. Champagne didn't endorse the use of TikTok either. He repeatedly noted that those who downloaded the app should have their "eyes wide open." TikTok said in a statement that it would challenge the government's order in court. "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 social media company said. In a blog post, Michael Geist, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa, questioned the value of shutting down TikTok's offices in Canada, writing that it "may ironically make matters worse by weakening the ability to hold TikTok accountable for the privacy and security of Canadians." The company is also under fire in the United States, where, under a law passed this year, TikTok could be banned if its Chinese parent company doesn't sell it off by January. But that is in doubt now that Donald J. Trump is returning to the White House: After issuing an executive order to ban TikTok during his presidency, Mr. Trump changed his mind during the recent campaign. [Read: What a Trump Victory Means for Tech] François-Philippe Champagne, the industry minister, offered no specifics about his security concerns. Blair Gable/Reuters The United States and other countries have raised concerns that the Chinese government could use TikTok to collect sensitive information about their citizens or to spread disinformation and propaganda. Canada, in issuing the shutdown order, presumably shares those concerns. China loomed large in the national cyber threat assessment released last week by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. The report said that China's "expansive and aggressive cyber program has global cyber surveillance, espionage and attack capabilities and is the most comprehensive cybersecurity threat facing Canada today." The report added that China's "scale, tradecraft and ambitions in cyberspace are second to none." According to the agency, China has targeted Canadian government officials and politicians, particularly members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of lawmakers who oppose the Chinese Communist Party. Some of those people have received emails containing "tracking images" that allowed China to then tap into all of their electronic communications. The report said that China also tracks and spies on individuals in Canada, including those associated with Chinese dissident groups. And it penetrates university, government and business networks to steal trade and technology secrets for its industries and its military. The report suggests that TikTok and other Chinese technology companies may be participants in all of this. The government of China, it said, "very likely leverages Chinese-owned technology platforms, some of which likely cooperate with" the Chinese intelligence and security services "to facilitate transnational repression." During a news conference last month about the report, Caroline Xavier, chief of the Communications Security Establishment, and her officials were as tight-lipped about TikTok as Mr. Champagne was this week. But Ms. Xavier did say that "all things that are applications potentially could be a tool" for China, other countries and cybercriminals. China, Ms. Xavier added, "is a sophisticated, persistent actor." Trans Canada The energy sector is Canada's largest source of carbon emissions largely because of the oil sands. Ian Willms for The New York Times The federal government will cap carbon emissions from the oil and gas industry in 2030. The energy industry and Alberta immediately opposed the draft regulations released this week, while environmentalists criticized them for not going far enough or fast enough. My colleague Anupreeta Das, who is based in New Delhi, reports that India's government views Sikh nationalists in Canada and elsewhere as terrorists and accuses them of sponsoring gang warfare, drug trafficking and extortion in India. In a Q&A for Travel, Zita Cobb, the founder of the Fogo Island Inn in Newfoundland, says that for tourism to support communities instead of harming them, "there's a whole mind-set shift that has to happen." In The New York Times Magazine, Lucy Currie of Jasper, Alberta, is one of several teenagers who describe how climate change is disrupting their adolescence. Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, sold out around the world, comes to Toronto next week. For those who missed getting tickets, or who can't afford to see her perform live, there's a movie version. Dina Gachman recommends five children's movies to stream, including "Felix and the Hidden Treasure," which takes place on the Magdalen Islands. Kenneth Welch, a biologist at the University of Toronto Scarborough, has studied how vampire bats approach their prey. It's not from the sky. Virginia Carter, a physicist originally from Arvida, Quebec, who became the feminist conscience behind "All in the Family," "Maude" and other sitcoms of the early 1970s, has died. She was 87. Ian Austen reports on Canada for The Times and is based in Ottawa. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, he covers politics, culture and the people of Canada and has reported on the country for two decades. He can be reached at austen@nytimes.com. More about Ian Austen How are we doing? We're eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to nytcanada@nytimes.com. Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Canada Letter from The New York Times. 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