TikTok attempted to duck a threat to end the tech company's business operations by boasting about its efforts to silence election-related free speech.
Canada plans to forbid TikTok from operating its business within the country due to national security risks and the concerns that the communist Chinese government-tied app could mishandle Canadians’ data, according to the Toronto Star. The app, however, would reportedly still be available for use. TikTok is lobbying to stop the operations ban by touting its efforts to help government and election officials suppress online speech.
The platform has been ordered to end its Canadian business operations, per the Star, because of the national security risks that TikTok poses. The Chinese government owns a board seat and a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance which has led to growing concerns among Canadian officials that Canadian citizens’ data is “likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors.”
Canadian law does not prevent the government from colluding with Big Tech to censor speech in the same way the American First Amendment does, so TikTok is more open about its election interference. Steve de Eyre, TikTok Canada’s director of public policy and government affairs, whined that the new Canadian policy will hinder the platform’s ability to censor speech, in an interview with the Star. “It will impede our ability to focus locally and partner locally with regulators, Elections Canada, (the Privy Council Office), civil society organizations. That is a central pillar of our election integrity plan and how we’ve been successful in other jurisdictions,” he said. De Eyreadded, “This is making it harder for us to localize our election integrity efforts.”
De Eyre even boasted about his idea to coordinate with government officials for the 2021 election in Canada, according to the Star. The collaboration reportedly allowed TikTok to impose special banners on videos which were considered verified by the government. The TikTok public policy director also noted that he had urged TikTok’s trust and safety team (i.e., censors) to monitor Canadian content.
The Star gave the example of how TikTok coordinated with the government to censor Canadians during the COVID-19-era “Freedom Convoy” trucker protests against lockdowns. At the time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau froze the protestors’ bank accounts, and it seems TikTok got in the action by monitoring alleged “harmful content” during the Freedom Convoy. De Eyre expressed concern that TikTok’s ability to collaborate with the Canadian government to restrict speech will lag behind without the platform’s Canadian employees who “understand the Canadian political context, cultural context, and issues that come up day-to-day,” according to the Star.
TikTok has a record of anti-free speech censorship. It ranked as one of MRC’s worst censors of 2023 for bragging about removing thousands of videos related to the Hamas-Israel conflict. As of Sept. 2022, MRC revealed TikTok had “permanently banned” 11 pro-free speech organizations. And in 2023, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party investigated TikTok's censorship of content about the anti-CCP freedom protests in Hong Kong.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
