TikTok CEO requests urgent meeting with Joly on Canadian shutdown order

CEO Shou Chew said the company would soon have to fire more than 350 employees in Canada, stop its direct investment in Canada and cut support for Canadian creators and culture.

The CEO of TikTok is asking Industry Minister Mélanie Joly for an urgent meeting about the federal government’s order directing the company to shut down its Canadian operations.

Shou Chew wrote to Joly on July 2 asking for an in-person meeting within two weeks, according to a letter obtained by The Canadian Press.

Chew argued that order was made in different circumstances, when it looked like the United States was going to ban TikTok.

“There is no upside to this outdated and counterproductive government order, which was issued under a different government and in a different era, and which doesn’t reflect today’s reality,” the letter says.

In November, Ottawa ordered the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business following a national security review of ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese company behind the social media platform.

While TikTok has been told to wind down its Canadian operations, the app will continue to be available to Canadians.

Chew argued going ahead with that November directive would make Canada an outlier among its allies, including other countries that are part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.

He said the order appeared to be based on “assumptions about TikTok’s future in the United States which no longer hold true.”