By The Canadian Press

Federal Court sets aside TikTok Canada shutdown order

Jan 21, 2026 | 2:22 PM

TikTok will live to scroll another day in Canada.

A Federal Court judge has set aside a government order for the social media company to wind down operations in Canada, meaning it can keep running its offices here while the industry minister takes another look at the file.

In 2024, the Liberal government ordered TikTok to close its Canadian offices after a review, citing national security concerns, though it stopped short of banning the app for users.

On Wednesday, the court shelved the government’s order and directed Industry Minister Mélanie Joly to conduct a new review.

A TikTok Canada spokesperson said the tech company welcomed the decision and looked forward to working with Joly.

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The company said closing its Canadian operations would have meant hundreds of jobs lost and less support for homegrown creators.

“Keeping TikTok’s Canadian team in place will enable a path forward that continues to support millions of dollars of investment in Canada and hundreds of local jobs,” Danielle Morgan said in an emailed statement.

Joly’s office did not immediately provide comment.

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist said the move wasn’t a substantive court ruling, describing it instead as the government hitting the “reset button” on its shutdown order.

“What the court did was execute what’s known as a consent order. Essentially, the government caved and said they would go back to the drawing board on this,” he said.

“My understanding is this is not the court issuing a ruling on substance. It’s the court acquiescing to the government’s request, along with TikTok, to start over.”

A parliamentary committee in 2023 heard concerns about “cyber-enabled espionage and foreign interference” with regard to TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Geist suggested the government decided to hit reset because the shutdown order “never made any sense.”

“The government’s decision to ban the corporate entity, but not the app, never really addressed the fundamental concerns that Canadians might have had around privacy or security…. And with the company banned from a corporate perspective in Canada, it was withdrawing support for various cultural initiatives,” he said.

“So, it was hard to understand what exactly the government was accomplishing.”

Last year, TikTok Canada announced it was pulling out as a sponsor of several Canadian arts institutions including the Juno Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival as result of the order.

Since opening offices in Toronto and Vancouver, TikTok says it has invested millions in programs and partnerships supporting local artists and creators over the past five years. It says more than 14 million Canadians use the app.

Geist said it’s possible the Liberal government was initially trying to “piggyback” on the United States’ intention to ban TikTok.

But TikTok signed a deal late last year to sell its U.S. business to three American investors — Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX — meaning the app would keep operating in the country.

“I think the Canadian government found itself really backed into a corner with a strategy that just did not work, and this provides them with an exit from that,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2026.

Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press