In 2021, a Tiktok of the Canadian rapper BBNO $ raising his eyebrows to the rhythm of his single “Edamame” began to win traction, and finally changed the course of his career.
The Canadian team of the platform suggested to recreate the clip with a thematic safari filter, then helped to boost it worldwide.
“When that happened, the song simply shot,” he says about the song, which presents the Indonesian rapper Rich Brian and was six times platinum in several countries.
BBNO $ is among several Canadian artists concerned with losing the support of social networks that can make or break their careers while Tiktok prepares to comply with a federal order to close their operations in Canada.
For Canadian musicians, Tiktok can be as vital as radio reproduction once. Its algorithm allows the songs to jump the borders instantly, offering emerging acts, especially racialized artists facing barriers in traditional channels, an opportunity of global reach.
With the OTTAWA dissolution order that will take effect soon, the Tiktok Canada team has been executing campaigns to show its value, and Canadian artists are gathering behind them.
On the coastBC rapper bbno $ nominated for the juno award
The rapper and creator of viral successes of BC BBNO $ has been nominated for the Tiktok Juno Choice Prize of 2025. He speaks with the host of the Costa Gloria Macarenko.
“Being an artist in this generation is like, basically, you are a Tiktokker,” says Juno’s rapper, born Alexander Gumuchian.
“Without having a Tiktok team to which I can transmit information, which could help me get banners, help me when things begin to bubble, I am losing ammunition to help activate my career.”
Concerns about access to user data behind the government movement
In November 2024, Ottawa ordered Tiktok’s Canadian arm that dissolves After a national security review of its Chinese parent company, Bytedance Ltd., although the application will remain accessible in Canada.
The order cited “national security risks”, but a government spokesman refused to provide details due to “confidentiality provisions.”
The social networks researcher Philip Mai says that there are concerns about the potential access of the Chinese government to user data, the foreign surveillance of Canadians in confidential sectors and the misuse of information for propaganda.
“China’s National Intelligence Law allows data access, raising plausible risk concerns,” says the co -director of the Social Network Laboratory of the Ted Rogers School of Administration.
The Federal Government ordered Tiktok to close its offices in Canada due to national security concerns. Ashley Fraser de CBC explains what we know and we don’t know about that risk.
Even so, no public evidence shows that Tiktok has shared user data with the Chinese government, and the company denies it.
Mai says that closing Tiktok Canada reduces its physical and legal presence in the country, limiting the potential of the data surveillance platform and its ability to influence public policy or opinion.
“This strategy is less extreme than prohibiting Tiktok, but more than a slap on the wrist,” he says.
BBNO $ says that the Canadian team of the platform has helped reinforce its presence in social networks. Without it, he warns, many Canadian artists will face a “bottleneck” in their races.
Juno’s winning Toronto band, The Beaches, says Tiktok Canada has been “instrumental” in her ascent.
“Without local teams that defend internationally Canadian musicians, we are competing with American artists as strangers, not as domestic talent,” says the group in a statement.
“This puts us at a disadvantage and pushes Canadian artists to leave the country only to have an opportunity for worldwide success.”
Although the beaches have enjoyed Canadian Radio Airplay for years, their simple “Blame Brett” went viral in Tiktok in 2023, helping them to reach the lists of US posters. UU. For the first time.
Mai warns the closure of Tiktok Canada would be a “great blow to Canadian artists”, reducing opportunities, support systems, subsidy programs and sponsorships.
“Forcing the closure of the Canadian operation of Tiktok will probably reduce Canadian visibility in the algorithm,” he says, and points out that local staff often increases regional content through customary campaigns, including which indigenous creators stand out.
Last month, Tiktok’s CEO, Shou Chew, asked The Minister of Industry, Melanie Joly, for an urgent meeting, warning that closing Tiktok Canada would force layoffs, stop investments and withdrew the support of creators and culture.
“The liquidation process quickly approaches a critical situation,” Chew wrote.
Tiktok refused to provide a date and say if he has had news from Joly, who did not answer the questions about the meeting request.
Racialized alumin loss of the Tiktok accelerators program, creators say
The platform recently withdrew the sponsorships for several Canadian arts institutions, including the Juno and Tiff Awards, and cut the Tiktok accelerator for indigenous creators of the National Institute of the National Screen Institute, which has supported almost 400 participants since 2021.
The indigenous ring of the ring, James Jones, says that the closing order of the federal government shows a contempt for the digital creators of the country.
“It is really unfortunate that they are removing a team that has supported the Bipoc community so much the indigenous community,” says Edmonton headquarters, which has more than four million followers.
Indigenous creators get an impulse from the Tiktok accelerator program
The 30 participants in the Tiktok accelerator program for indigenous creators adopt very different approaches on the platform, from comedy to music to cooking and the exchange of indigenous knowledge. But many of them say it is an opportunity to raise indigenous voices and stories on a popular platform. We talk to the creators Eagle Blackbird, Jocelyn Joe-Strack and Sebastian Gaskin about what they share on the video network shortly.
“I don’t think anyone asked us what we wanted or even contacted and said:” Hey, how will this affect you? “
Jones says that at the beginning of his career, Tiktok Canada offered advice to maximize his scope and facilitate key connections with brands and publications.
He says that his accelerator program has helped many indigenous creators and small businesses. Jones feels that the government is sending a message that “we are not being prioritized.”
“They don’t care what happens to us, our businesses don’t care, our brands,” he says. “They don’t care how it personally affects us not to have access to a team that supports us directly.”
Vanessa Brousseau, a defender of the disappeared and killed indigenous people, says that the government’s decision feels “really painful, but familiar.”
“It feels like a pattern and a way of oppressing minorities, oppressing indigenous peoples,” says Tiktok accelerator aluminum for indigenous creators.
“Tiktok is the only platform that amplifies our voices and ensures that they listen to us.”
Brousseau worries that if the decision is not reversed, it will be “very harmful” for the indigenous creators of Tiktok.
“Of course, Tiktok will still be there, but we will not be amplified. We will not have those connections. We will not have those opportunities.”
