On the advice of secret services, the Government of Canada banned the company TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. Ordered to close. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese ByteDance Group. Such orders are only possible if foreign direct investment could violate the national security of the monarchy. Like the European Union, Canada also banned TikTok from the cell phones of civil servants last year. However, private use of video apps is possible in Canada.
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The closure of the TikTok offices in Toronto and Vancouver shouldn’t change this. “The government is not restricting Canadians’ ability to access or provide content to the TikTok app.” Innovation Minister François-Philippe emphasizes Champagne “Using a social networking app or platform is a personal decision,” the Liberal minority government said. This is not a recommendation. the minister pointed out Advice from IT security department The purpose of the Secret Service CSE (Communications Services Establishment) is to help citizens better assess the potential risks of communications programs.
The minister says the decision to liquidate the subsidiary is based on a “multi-level investigation (from a national security perspective)”: “The government is taking measures to counter the specific national security risks associated with ByteDance’s operations in Canada. This decision by TikTok Technology Canada is based on information and evidence collected as part of the investigation and on advice from Canadian intelligence agencies and other government partners.”
TikTok is fighting in court
TikTok announced in a brief statement Taking the order to court. The company is not addressing the concerns of the government. Instead, it states that the closure of the Canadian offices will result in the loss of “hundreds of well-paying jobs.” It is not publicly known how many employees TikTok has in Canada. There are about 80 job offers online from the company, but it is not necessary that there is a job vacancy behind every advertisement.
The Canadian government also did not have to wait long for third-party criticism. Canadian video makers watch their skins float away. In some countries, including Germany and the United States, TikTok shares advertising revenue exclusively with successful video providers who have at least 10,000 followers. This offer doesn’t exist in Canada, and it’s unlikely that TikTok will offer money there in the near future.
Canadian government closed TikTok offices“There may be good reasons to ban an app if its risk to security and privacy is different from that of other platforms,” says Canadian law professor. Consider Michael Geist“But banning the company rather than the app makes the situation worse because the risks posed by the app remain but the ability to hold the company accountable is weakened.”
Nova Scotia privacy lawyer David Fraser says employees at TikTok’s Canadian subsidiary are “concerned about the safety of Canadian users and children, supporting Canadian producers, liaising with Canadian authorities, addressing foreign interference and ideological interference in Canada.” combating politically motivated violent extremism.” He therefore considers the official closure order to be “remarkably foolish”.
poor data security
The closure order may make sense if its goal is not to deal with threats emanating from the app, but rather threats emanating from the branch. Canadian secret services may conclude that TikTok employs a number of people considered suspicious in Canada or that the branch serves as a cover for undesirable activities or money flows.
However, if the government is concerned about the app, a strict data protection law would be more helpful. Ronald Deibert, head of Citizen Lab, said in discussions about privacy and national security concerns “it should be remembered that most social media apps are unacceptably invasive by design, treating users as raw material for personal data surveillance. , and fail to provide transparency in data sharing.” At the University of Toronto, yes recorded in the previous year“Therefore, we urgently need a comprehensive data protection law.”
There have been attempts to do this in Parliament, but the government has tied it to its ideas about regulating artificial intelligence, slowing down data protection. Now new elections are approaching as the minority government is in a weak position.
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