By: Kelly Townsend

The Canadian government has ordered short-form content platform TikTok to dissolve its operations in the country, citing national security risks.

An order was issued yesterday calling for the wind-up of TikTok Technology Canada, a subsidiary of Beijing-based ByteDance.

Notably, the government will not block the use of the app, meaning TikTok creators in Canada will be able to continue creating content at home. However, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne noted that Canadians should “adopt good cyber security practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications.”

A spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement that the company will be challenging the 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.” 

TikTok has two offices in Canada, one in Toronto and the other in Vancouver. The company’s employee base includes software engineers, ad sales agents and product managers. TikTok also runs a Creative Lab out of Canada that’s an in-house creative consultancy for agencies and key TikTok accounts.

This decision comes one week after the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security issued its national cyber threat assessment for 2025/2026, saying that the People’s Republic of China’s “expansive and aggressive cyber program presents the most sophisticated and active state cyber threat to Canada today.”

South of the border, citing similar concerns about national security threats, the US Senate passed a bill on April 23 ordering ByteDance to divest in TikTok within nine to 12 months or else the app would be banned in the country. TikTok filed a lawsuit against the US government a month later, arguing that the move violates the company’s First Amendment rights.

This story originally appeared in Kidscreen’s sister publication Playback.