The Canadian government orders TikTok to shut down its operations in the country

Recently, TikTok has been in some deep trouble with several lawsuits facing it and governments scrutinizing it. Now, Canada has ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in the country. The reason is alleged unspecified national security risks, that are posed by the company and its parent company ByteDance. The Canadian government has not banned TikTok (yet), but TikTok will be forced to “wind up” all business in the country. Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne stated that the decision was based on information and evidence collected, and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community alongside other government partners.

The country previously banned the app from official government devices.

A TikTok spokesperson said that the company would challenge Canada’s order. The spokesperson indicated that shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of local jobs is not in anyone’s best interest.

However, alleged ‘national security risks’ are not the only reasons why TikTok has been in hot waters recently. The social media platform is now facing several lawsuits from different states in the US alleging it has bad effects on young users’ mental health.

It’s not only the US and Canada that have issues with TikTok though. Recently, we reported that seven French families are now taking TikTok to court because of a decline in the seven families’ children’s physical and mental health allegedly because of the video-sharing platform.

TikTok is not the only platform that’s in trouble for its effects on teens though. Meta’s Instagram is also currently facing scrutiny over its effects on younger users as well.

I think it’s of absolute importance to protect the mental well-being of our youth. Social media platforms, although they have been around for quite some time already, are a new thing in the grand scheme of human history, and we need to ensure they are not unhealthy and are not causing harm to the most vulnerable in our society: children.