TikTok is battling government restrictions in Canada and faces potential bans in the U.S., marking significant challenges for the video-sharing platform in North America.

TikTok filed for judicial review in Vancouver's federal court on December 5 to contest the Canadian government's order to cease operations in the country. The platform, which serves 14 million Canadian users (approximately one-third of the population), maintains offices in Toronto and Vancouver.

The Canadian federal government ordered TikTok Technology Canada's dissolution following a national security review of ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company. Importantly, the order doesn't block user access to the app.

TikTok's legal challenge argues that the government's decision is:

• "Unreasonable" and "driven by improper purposes"
• "Grossly disproportionate"
• Based on a "procedurally unfair" national security review
• Lacks rational connection to identified security risks
• Threatens hundreds of jobs and business contracts

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who led the government's review, maintains the decision addresses specific national security concerns and was based on intelligence community recommendations.

The challenges in Canada coincide with increased scrutiny in the United States, where TikTok faces a potential January ban, and in Europe, where concerns include alleged Moscow-coordinated election interference campaigns.

ByteDance, which relocated its headquarters to Singapore in 2020, continues to face mounting pressure from Western nations over security concerns.

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