Liberals reveal they ordered national security review of TikTok in September

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of popular video app TikTok in September 2023 but did not disclose it publicly.

“This is still an ongoing case. We can’t comment further because of the confidentiality provisions of the Investment Canada Act,” a spokesperson for Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said.

“Our government has never hesitated to [take] action, when necessary, if a case under review is found to be injurious to Canada’s national security.”

The revelation comes after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday to ban TikTok unless its Chinabased owner sells its stake in the business.

“We’re watching, of course, the debate going on in the United States,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday when asked whether Canada would pursue a similar move.

In response to the same question, Champagne’s office said that the Liberal cabinet “issued an order for the national security review of TikTok Canada” on Sept. 6.

It said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database shows a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

The minister’s office said the cabinet order to launch the review was not accessible online, as is routine, because the information is protected and confidential under the Investment Canada Act.

Champagne’s office indicated TikTok would be subject to “enhanced scrutiny” under the act under a new policy on foreign investments in the interactive digital media sector released by the government earlier this month.