TikTok in Canada has reached a settlement with the federal government to continue operating north of the U.S. border.
And the big winners of the deal are likely to be major Canadian cultural events like the Toronto Film Festival and the Junos after their TikTok sponsorship was pulled ahead of a threatened shutdown of the local operations for the fast-growing social video platform. TikTok Canada’s agreement with the federal government in Ottawa will keep its local operations in place, and likely restore jobs stemming from past sponsorships of domestic events.
Commitments made by TikTok to the feds in Ottawa include “continued support of Canadian content creators, cultural organizations, training programs and more, with a focus on Francophone and Indigenous creators.” That support was echoed in a statement by federal industry minister Melanie Joly who said the settlement “will protect Canadian jobs, ensuring that TikTok Canada maintains a physical presence in Canada, with commitments to invest in its cultural sector. TikTok Canada will support the growth of Canadian creators, artists and cultural organizations, while strengthening the production and accessibility of Canadian cultural content in both official and Indigenous languages across the country.”
The settlement with TikTok Canada followed an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and provincial counterparts into TikTok Technology Canada Inc. The social video platform had 14 million active monthly Canadian users in November 2024, as TikTok then reported as part of the Canadian probe.
With the new agreement with Canada’s feds, The Hollywood Reporter understands sponsorships or other programs to support Canadian artists like creator accelerator and development programs will resume. There’s no word from TikTok Canada on which sponsorships will restart and when, or what support for Canadian creators and events will be new. But announcements on a resumption in funding from TikTok north of the border are anticipated.
THR reached out to TIFF, the Junos and the National Screen Institute, whose TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators saw its sponsorship pulled, and has yet to hear back. TikTok Canada in July 2025 first threatened sponsorship of major Canadian cultural events would be suspended as its Canadian operations faced a shutdown by the federal government as Ottawa targeted TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance.
Even as TikTok Canada sponsorships were eventually withdrawn, Canadians were still able to access the social media giant via the TikTok app. As part of its settlement with Ottawa, TikTok Canada also agreed to “enhanced” data security, a third-party monitor to verify data controls and protections and initiatives for online safety and digital literacy for young Canadian users.
The new Canadian deal for TikTok follows the U.S. sale of the social video platform to a consortium of American investors, leading to a new joint venture owner stateside, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. The managing investors include Oracle Corporation, Silver Lake, and MGX (Abu Dhabi’s state investment firm).
Given that the Ellison family led by Oracle’s Larry Ellison, is a 15 percent shareholder of TikTok U.S., have a close relationship with U.S. president Donald Trump, the federal government in Ottawa is thought to have been keen to settle its investigation into TikTok Canada ahead of upcoming Canada-U.S. trade and tariffs negotiations.
In June 2025, Canada scrapped a digital service tax on American tech giants to allow trade talks with the U.S. to resume amid an ongoing tariff war.
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