The BBC has become the second media organization to move to restrict the use of TikTok on corporate devices, further escalating the apathy that has been growing around the Chinese app since 2020.
The BBC advised staff to delete the video-sharing app, citing privacy and security concerns. This comes after Denmark’s public service broadcaster issued guidance to staff for the use of TikTok.
The step taken by the media organizations follows decisions by several countries, including the US, the UK, Canada and Denmark, among others to ban the TikTok on government-issued devices.
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But the BBC said it would continue to use the platform for editorial and marketing purposes for now, and it is allowed on personal phones.
The security and privacy concerns, which have now moved from governments’ quarters to media corporations, are based on the fear that the Chinese government could access the data harvested by TikTok.
TikTok is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, which is subject to Beijing like every other company in the South Asian country.
While TikTok have repeatedly allayed the concerns, describing them as “fundamental misconceptions”, events keep making its matter worse.
In 2022, an investigative report by Forbes revealed that ByteDance employees had accessed the data of some journalists, tracking their location. Though TikTok said they were fired, the concern incident created has refused to go away.
The concern of media houses is largely centered on the safety of journalists and their sources. The chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns said about the BBC’s decision: “If protecting sources isn’t a priority, that’s a major problem.”
The BBC quoted its spokesperson as saying that it took the safety and security of its systems, data and people “incredibly seriously”.
“The decision is based on concerns raised by government authorities worldwide regarding data privacy and security.
“If the device is a BBC corporate device, and you do not need TikTok for business reasons, TikTok should be deleted from the BBC corporate mobile device,” an email sent to staff on Sunday said.
While there is no evidence yet to support the concerns about TikTok, media organizations appear to be taking precautionary measures, following the steps of governments. China has history of media repression and targeting journalists who made reports against the state, a culture press organizations are worried could be extended to foreign journalists and their sources.
The fear was amplified when a video criticizing the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighur Muslims, shared by a US TikTokker, was taken down. Though TikTok said the decision to take the video down was a mistake, it added to the concern.
BBC also asked employees who have the app on personal phones that they also use to work, to contact the corporation’s Information Security team for further discussions.
However, the decision may affect BBC News TikTok channel, which has about 1.2 million followers. BBC said it recently recruited journalists to work specifically on creating content for the account. The British news outlet also has a separate account with more than four million followers, which shares BBC programme clips.
TikTok’s efforts to tame the growing apathy have not been fruitful. The company said it was disappointed with the decision.
“The BBC has a strong presence on our platform, with multiple accounts from news through to music reaching our engaged community both in the UK and around the world, a TikTok spokesperson said.
“We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics.
“We remain in close dialogue with the BBC and are committed to working with them to address any concerns they have.”