Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Chinese-owned TikTok Canada Wednesday filed a federal court challenge to a government shutdown order.
TikTok said in a statement that it filed a notice of application in federal court "to challenge the government's order to shut down TikTok Canada's operations.
TikTok Canada said the shutdown of local office operations " would eliminate the jobs and livelihoods of our hundreds of dedicated local employees" who serve over 14 million monthly Canadian users.
The TikTok Canada application to legally challenge the order known as an Order In Council seeks a federal court review of the order in an effort to block it.
"Among other things, the OIC requires TikTok Canada to wind-up its business and cease operations in Canada. The OIC does not impose any restriction on the continued provision of the TikTok Platform in Canada," the legal filing said.
TikTok Canada's legal challenge said Canada's Governor In Council exceeded its legal authority with the shutdown order.
The filing was brought against Canada's Minister For Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Governor in Council.
"The Minister's conclusion that the Investment would be injurious to national security, and the Referral of the Investment to the GIC was not transparent, intelligible or justified and was therefore unreasonable," the filing stated. "The Minister erroneously, and without any basis in fact, concluded that the Investment "would be injurious to national security."
TikTok Canada's legal appeal claimed "the Minister failed to engage with TikTok Canada on the purported substance of the concerns that led to the OIC, which resulted in the Minister making the Conclusion and the Referral without the benefit of relevant information and potential mitigation efforts."
It asserted that the government order bears "no rational connection to the national security risks it identifies" and is premised on "incorrect facts."
TikTok Canada argued in the filing that the Minister "erred in law and breached TikTok Canada's rights to procedural fairness" while "depriving TikTok Canada of the chance to fully and fairly benefit from its statutory and procedural rights."
Canadian privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne testified before the House of Commons ethics committee Tuesday that the shutdown order will make it more difficult to force the company to cooperate in privacy investigations.
He added that the government has not specified the national security risks that TikTok Canada local operations allegedly pose.
"The government is taking action to address the specific national security risks related to ByteDance Ltd.'s operations in Canada through the establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc," Francois-Philippe Champagne, the minister of innovation, science and industry said in a statement when the order was issued in November.
He said it was done based on evidence and information from Canada's security and intelligence agencies and other government partners.
TikTok Canada's legal filing challenging the shutdown order described the corporate ownership structure of TikTok.
"ByteDance Ltd. is a privately held Cayman Islands company, the subsidiaries of which provide many products and services," the filing said. "ByteDance Ltd. was incorporated in 2012. Today, it is approximately 58%-owned by investors around the world, 21%-owned by its subsidiaries' global workforce, and 21%-owned by one of its founders, Yiming Zhang, who resides in Singapore."