TikTok Canada halts sponsorships at TIFF, Junos and other arts groups

Alex Nino Gheciu · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jul 07, 2025 2:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: July 7

TikTok says it's pulling retired arsenic a sponsor of several Canadian arts institutions, including the Juno Awards and the Toronto International Film Festival, arsenic it prepares to comply with a federal bid to unopen down operations successful Canada.

Since opening offices successful Toronto and Vancouver, TikTok says it has invested millions successful programs and partnerships supporting local artists and creators implicit the past 5 years.

But TikTok Canada's manager of nationalist argumentation and government affairs, Steve de Eyre, says Ottawa is present enforcing its bid from last November to upwind down operations implicit nationalist security concerns, and TikTok has nary prime but to suspend those initiatives indefinitely.

Another radical that volition beryllium impacted is the acquisition charity MusiCounts, which TikTok says it has provided with $500,000 to day to support precocious schoolhouse euphony programs. The societal media elephantine has been a Junos spouse since 2020 and a rubric sponsor of the Juno instrumentality prime award. 

It's besides worked with TIFF since 2022, sponsoring the festival's Short Cuts and Special Presentations programs and supporting manufacture panels that featured Canadian creators.

Also among the casualties is the National Screen Institute's TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators that has worked with nearly 400 participants since 2021. Sarah Simpson-Yellowquill, the program's manager, calls the shutdown "sad and disheartening," saying the accelerator has been a captious root of vocation opportunities and mentorship for Indigenous creators. 

TikTok says it is besides pulling retired of its concern with ADISQ, Quebec's euphony manufacture relation and organizer of the province's apical euphony awards gala. 

Eve Paré, ADISQ's enforcement director, calls the determination a "substantial loss" for the enactment financially and says uncovering a caller sponsor earlier the adjacent gala successful November volition beryllium a challenge.

"It was a large disappointment connected our part, due to the fact that financially, it's a sponsorship that is important to us, particularly these days wherever taste organizations similar america are struggling," Paré said. "It's go much and much hard to scope the young public, due to the fact that accepted media are not truthful fashionable with [them]."

TikTok Canada inactive hopes to debar shutdown

De Eyre says the institution is inactive challenging the bid successful tribunal and pushing the authorities to find a amended mode forward. He did not supply a clip that they person to adjacent up shop.

"We should beryllium present, we should beryllium investing successful taste organizations, we should person radical who are accountable to Parliament, to regulators, to instrumentality enforcement. If determination are concerns astir security, let's code them," De Eyre said.

He says that portion the TikTok app volition stay available, closing its Canadian offices will mean hundreds of jobs mislaid and little enactment for homegrown creators. 

"It breaks my bosom that we're being forced to cancel [these programs]," helium said, noting that owed to the bid being enforced, they cannot perpetrate to renewing their partnerships.

WATCH | Explaining TikTok's ineligible situation of the shutdown:

De Eyre says TikTok has projected solutions to code information concerns, summation transparency and support concern and jobs successful Canada, but that there's been small authorities engagement. 

"We're hopeful we tin inactive debar [a shutdown], but arsenic it stands, determination are starting to beryllium existent consequences."

The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada did not instantly supply remark Monday. Last year, the authorities said it had ordered the upwind up of Canadian concern carried by TikTok aft "a multi-step nationalist information process," but said it would not artifact the app's usage successful Canada.

Trump extends U.S. TikTok deadline, teases talks 

U.S. officials had besides raised information concerns astir TikTok, with a 2024 law — passed with bipartisan support — requiring TikTok's Chinese genitor institution ByteDance to divest its U.S. assets by mid-January oregon look a ban. 

Although the app concisely went acheronian astatine the opening of the year, it resumed days aboriginal erstwhile U.S. President Donald Trump took office.

A consequent woody projected to rotation disconnected TikTok's American operations into a caller U.S.-based firm, majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors. However, the program stalled aft Trump introduced steep tariffs connected Chinese goods. 

Last month, Trump erstwhile again extended a deadline for ByteDance to divest, with Sept. 17 acceptable arsenic the caller date. Late Friday, helium told reporters helium expected to statesman talks with China this week astir a imaginable deal.