Barry Appleton: Canada submits to China's algorithmic colonialism

National Post

8 hours ago

On Nov. 6, 2024, Canada ordered TikTok's local offices expelled but left its influence engine untouched. The result? Fewer Canadian jobs, no new oversight, and continued foreign control over our digital public square. It makes about as much sense as banning foreign diplomats while allowing their propaganda broadcasts to continue uninterrupted.
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Canada's shutdown order, issued after a national security review, eliminates TikTok's 350 Canadian employees and halts cultural sponsorships worth millions. Yet the algorithm that shapes what Canadians see, share, and believe remains entirely in Chinese hands. We have managed to achieve the worst of both worlds: less accountability with zero additional protection.
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This backwards approach reveals how Canada thinks about digital threats with analog tools. We are treating algorithmic sovereignty like a traditional corporate takeover — kick out the foreign company, problem solved. But in the attention economy, corporate presence matters far less than code control. The algorithm is the empire, not the office lease.
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Contrast this with the United States, which pursued forced divestiture — demanding that ByteDance sell TikTok to American owners or face a complete ban. While controversial, this approach at least recognized that ownership matters for algorithmic control. The U.S. understood that keeping the platform while changing its governance structure could address security concerns without eliminating the service entirely.
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Why didn't Canada consider forced divestiture? The option deserves serious examination. Unlike our current approach, divestiture could have preserved Canadian jobs, maintained cultural sponsorships, and potentially brought algorithmic decision-making under friendlier jurisdiction. Instead of corporate whack-a-mole, we could have pursued structural change.
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While Canada plays these games, serious digital powers are asserting algorithmic control. The European Union mandates transparency reports for recommendation systems, requires platforms to offer non-profiling feeds, and conducts algorithmic audits through its European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency. Even authoritarian China requires tech companies to file algorithmic parameters with regulators.
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Canada? We disbanded the company but kept the black box.
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The irony runs deeper. TikTok's Steve de Eyre argues that eliminating Canadian operations removes 'the accountability of having a TikTok entity within Canada's legal jurisdiction.' He is right. We now have algorithmic colonialism — where our information flow is governed by foreign logic systems we cannot audit or influence — without even the pretense of local oversight.
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This approach stems from fundamental confusion about how digital sovereignty works. Traditional sovereignty meant controlling territory and physical infrastructure. Digital sovereignty means controlling the logic systems that govern information flow. When algorithms decide what news Canadians see during elections, or when TikTok's system shapes teenage mental health through curated feeds, corporate nationality becomes secondary to algorithmic accountability.