The Frontline | The Canadian government has issued another ban, casting another shadow over the rapidly growing TikTok.

Written by Lan Jie

Edited by Qiao Qian

The crisis TikTok is facing is still intensifying.

On November 6 local time, the Canadian government issued an announcement stating that it has ordered the termination of the business of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. in Canada.

Specifically, TikTok's office in Canada will be dissolved, but Canadian users can still access TikTok and create content on the platform.

François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada, said in the announcement that the government made this decision based on the Investment Canada Act. This act allows the government to review foreign investments that may harm Canada's national security. François-Philippe Champagne added, "Although Canada welcomes foreign investment, when investment threatens our national security, the government will take decisive action."

In response, Danielle Morgan, a spokesperson for TikTok Canada, said, "Closing the TikTok Canada office will destroy hundreds of local high-paying jobs and is not in anyone's best interest. The company will challenge this order in court. The TikTok platform will still help creators find an audience, explore new business opportunities, and help businesses thrive."

This is not the first setback for TikTok in Canada.

As early as February 2023, the Canadian government had banned the use of TikTok on all government devices and later in the same year ordered a national security review of the application. Now, with this new ban, it can be said that the decision has been made.

In order to deal with the related crisis, TikTok is also accelerating the process of overseas localization. On January 18 this year, according to sources close to ByteDance, the company is establishing R & D centers in Canada, Australia and other places, which will support the R & D of multiple overseas businesses such as TikTok, CapCut, and Lemon8 in the future. However, these efforts have not changed the ban decision on TikTok in Europe and the United States.

Even though the international situation is becoming increasingly severe, TikTok has gradually become a new revenue growth engine for ByteDance. According to The Information's report on November 4 local time, ByteDance's international revenue (mainly from TikTok) in the first half of 2024 increased by more than 60% to approximately $17 billion (about 120.915 billion yuan) - under the shadow of the ban, TikTok's commercial development is still very strong.

In addition, Canada is not the main market for TikTok. According to the third-party data agency Statista, as of April 2024, TikTok has 1.56 billion monthly active users worldwide, with the largest number of users in the United States, about 150 million people.

So, what is the fate of TikTok in its most important market?

Also on November 6 local time, Trump delivered a speech at the Palm Beach Convention Center in Florida, announcing his victory in the 2024 US presidential election. Trump's victory in this election is closely related to the fate of TikTok.

As early as April this year, the House of Representatives and the Senate successively passed the "sell or ban" bill for TikTok, which was signed into effect by then US President Biden. After the bill came into effect, TikTok was given one year - including the 270-day divestiture period stipulated in the latest version of the bill, and an additional 90 days that the US president can further extend after confirming the progress of TikTok's sale.

Now half of this period has passed, and the key variable during this period is the decision of the new US president. During the campaign, Trump told the foreign media Bloomberg Businessweek on July 16 local time that he opposed the "sell or ban" bill for TikTok signed by the Biden administration and claimed that he would support this short-video platform company.

However, as early as 2020, Trump, who was in power at that time, also tried to ban TikTok on the pretext of national security. Therefore, whether this new US president will fulfill his promise remains to be seen. Now, the further ban on TikTok in Canada is undoubtedly a bad signal.