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Trudeau government bans TikTok from operating in Canada

(www.cbc.ca)
410 points empressplay | 7 comments | 06 Nov 24 23:04 UTC | HN request time: 1.396s | source | bottom
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strongpigeon ◴[06 Nov 24 23:21 UTC] No.42071124[source]▶
To be clear, they're not banning the app, they're banning ByteDance from having offices in Canada
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A_D_E_P_T ◴[06 Nov 24 23:28 UTC] No.42071185[source]▶
Isn't it all rather self-defeating, then?

ByteDance will keep no data in Canada, will not employ any Canadians, will not report any information to Canadian authorities, and will have no reason to comply with Canadian warrants or court orders. (Or even judgments.) At the same time, all Canadians can continue to use the app.

On balance, this seems bad for Canada and great for ByteDance.

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1. scosman ◴[06 Nov 24 23:42 UTC] No.42071354[source]▶
"We came to the conclusion that these activities that were conducted in Canada by TikTok and their offices would be injurious to national security,"

Really not saying anything, but that's the line they are going with.

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2. TeMPOraL ◴[07 Nov 24 00:12 UTC] No.42071634[source]▶
Speaks volumes about perceived power balance between governments and corporations. You'd think that forcing a foreign company to operate through a national subsidiary would be beneficial to the government in terms of intelligence/counterintelligence, but apparently they worry it would be more beneficial to the company and/or its home country.
3. gruez ◴[07 Nov 24 00:45 UTC] No.42071928[source]▶
What do they think is happening inside TikTok offices? It's not like they're embassies filled with spies.
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4. llm_nerd ◴[07 Nov 24 02:29 UTC] No.42072686[source]▶
Why couldn't it be?

Canada has an extremely generous, massively exploited foreign worker program (it is actually one of the reasons this government is profoundly unpopular). ByteDance, like every other company, can unilaterally declare that they need to bring in an entirely foreign staff and get it rubber stamped. Given the company's alleged closeness with the party, using it as an easy vehicle to drop loads of intelligence workers of various sorts in Canada would be logical. Similarly China has a thing with running intimidation tactics against Chinese ex-pats living in Western countries.

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5. gruez ◴[07 Nov 24 02:38 UTC] No.42072757{3}[source]▶
It's not impossible, but you'd think they come up with a better front company than bytedance, of all companies. It's like China accusing that McDonalds is a spy front.
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6. llm_nerd ◴[07 Nov 24 02:48 UTC] No.42072830{4}[source]▶
Perhaps, but China really doesn't have a lot of companies with offices in the West. When China tries to buy Western countries they are often blocked for the same national security reasons, as has happened several times in Canada.
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7. gruez ◴[07 Nov 24 03:07 UTC] No.42072940{5}[source]▶
A nondescript consumer appliance or clothing "sales office" is infinitely better than bytedance, a company that has received significant flak in the media. The Biden administration's policy of "small yard, high fence" means that unless you're trying to import chips, AI tech, drones, or battery tech, you're probably fine. Nobody is going to blink an eye at some Chinese company trying to sell rice cookers.