TikTok files legal challenge of federal government’s shutdown order

TikTok is challenging the federal government’s order to shut down its operations in Canada.

The company filed in documents in Federal Court in Vancouver on Thursday.

The government ordered the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business in November after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform.

That means TikTok must “wind down” its operations in Canada, though the app will continue to be available to Canadians.

TikTok wants the court to overturn the government’s order and to place a pause on the order while the court hears the case.

It is claiming the minister’s decision was “unreasonable” and “driven by improper purposes.”

The review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to harm national security.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement at the time the government was taking action to address “specific national security risks,” though it didn’t specify what those risks were.

TikTok’s filing says Champagne “failed to engage with TikTok Canada on the purported substance of the concerns that led to the (order.)”

The company argues the government ordered “measures that bear no rational connection to the national security risks it identifies.”

It says the reasons for the order “are unintelligible, fail to reveal a rational chain of analysis and are rife with logical fallacies.”

The company’s law firm, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, declined to comment, while Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the order would “eliminate the jobs and livelihoods of our hundreds of dedicated local employees — who support the community of more than 14 million monthly Canadian users on TikTok, including businesses, advertisers, creators and initiatives developed especially for Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.

Darryl Greer and Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press