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Naomi Leanage found out that TikTok's Canadian offices were closing after a social media post from one of its employees.
“I was honestly shocked and disappointed. I've been to the TikTok office in Toronto a few times. They host creators there all the time,” says the Toronto-raised, LA-based content creator.
“It's not just this online platform that's in the abyss, it's real people who care about your career.”
The federal government recently ordered TikTok to close its corporate offices in Toronto and Vancouver, citing national security concerns. Canadian users can still access and post to the app normally.
Officials in countries including Canada and the US have shared concerns that TikTok – owned by Beijing-based ByteDance – may be forced to share user data with the Chinese government, or used for foreign interference.
TikTok has defended itself, saying it is headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore, where ByteDance is also moved its regional headquarters. The country has also said it does not share information with China and does not want to do so.
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne says national security concerns led to the federal government's decision to shut down TikTok operations in Canada. Champagne emphasized that Canadians can still use the social media app.
Representatives from the company's Canadian offices say the closure will impact Canadian employees and that the closures will be challenged in court.
But for Canadian content creators and influencers, the office closure means losing access to company employees who had helped them land brand deals and had a vested interest in their careers, which may receive less attention compared to those of their American counterparts. And although the federal government has denied itthey now fear that the forced closure means that a complete ban on the app is in the pipeline.
'It does cause some unrest'
Leanage has more than 500,000 followers on her Canadian TikTok account. When she moved to LA, she kept that tab because she was still working with local brands. She also has an American account with fewer followers.
For about a year, she had a dedicated partner manager through TikTok's Canadian offices, who connected her with brands like Spotify and offered her other opportunities, including the chance to walk the red carpet at the Juno Awards.
She said the majority of her brand deals don't come directly from TikTok, so she isn't too concerned about how her income will be affected by the change.
However, she said, “I feel like it's causing a little bit of anxiety in terms of, what if Canada completely bans the app?
“I feel like this might be a bit of a slippery slope.”
LOOK | CBC's TikTok producer Ashley Fraser explains the office closure:
Canadian TikTok creators do not have access to the Creator Program. It is available in countries such as the US, UK and France and allows users with a certain number of followers and monthly views to monetize their videos.
Philip Mai, the co-director of Toronto Metropolitan University's Social Media Lab, said in an interview last week that the government may be “slowly phasing out the TikTok ban” to avoid upsetting young voters before the federal election.
“To bring Canada into line with our Five Eyes partners, they may have to ban the app completely, but that would be well after the election,” Mai told CBC News.
The creator says that closing offices will not affect him, but that an app ban would
Mark Gaetano was scrolling through his phone one morning when he saw the news of the closing. The Toronto content creator said he's nervous as the country moves closer to a ban.
“It made me very concerned because all or most of my business is done through TikTok, and without it a lot of my career, income and livelihood would be lost,” he told CBC News.
“It does make me nervous, though, because if the government has that much power to shut something down so quickly, it could mean they just shut down the app completely.
“Which would then force me to have to focus on other social media platforms. There is no guarantee that it will fully transfer or be translated in the same way.”
When asked about a possible ban on the social media app TikTok in the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would not comment and that Ottawa sees the online safety of Canadians as a priority.
Jess Hunichen, co-founder of creative agency Shine Talent Group, often works with content creators in Canada and the US – and she says companies often don't understand the difference between these two markets.
“I think we've seen a lot of brands and companies come into Canada and go out of business because they haven't been in touch with who the Canadian consumer is and how they differ from American consumers,” she said.
“So I think TikTok's local support on the ground in Toronto and Vancouver has really impacted the market in a great way for content creators.”
YouTube and Instagram can benefit from this, says expert
Lia Haberman, a Montreal-born and California-based expert on creator economics, said office closures are another downside for Canadian creators, who already can't directly monetize their videos.
“TikTok Canada hosted a lot of events, did a lot of different workshops and outreach to creators in Canada. So now that that's going away, that's a pretty big gap for Canadian TikTok creators,” she said.
“I think TikTok's absence in Canada means no one is making the case for HQ for Canadian creators.”
A new bill signed by US President Joe Biden includes controversial legislation that could ban TikTok in the United States. The CBC's Amy Smith spoke with Canadian TikToker Max Taylor about what a U.S. ban would mean in Canada.
“It is a loss for Canadian content creators because they have lost their personal support, their advocates and the people who provide them with information – for example, helping them get verified on the platform.”
Haberman added that some TikTok creators may want to shift their online presence to other platforms with more stability — Instagram or YouTube, for example.
The latter could be an advantage if Canadian content creators defect or are booted from the app.
“It's the No. 1 platform where people watch creators' content, so I think YouTube will benefit if creators decide they want to move from TikTok to another video app.”
