The BBC has advised its staff to delete TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app, over fears of data being accessed and misused by the Chinese state.
Increasing concerns about data privacy
The BBC has recently issued guidance to its staff, urging them to delete TikTok, from their corporate mobile phones unless there is a justified business reason to keep it. This follows the UK government's decision to ban the app on government-issued phones due to growing concerns of sensitive data being accessed by the Chinese government, given the app's ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese internet company.
The BBC has stated that the decision to advise its employees to delete the app was based on concerns raised by government authorities worldwide regarding data privacy and security. The corporation has also asked its employees who have TikTok on their personal phones but use them for work reasons, to discuss the use of the app with the BBC’s Information Security team.
The use of TikTok on BBC corporate devices, which have been purchased and paid for by the organisation, is still allowed for editorial and marketing purposes, but the BBC has said that it will continue to monitor and assess the situation.
The future of short-form video content
Although TikTok may be facing some turbulence at the moment, the impact that the platform has had on the world of social media and content creation won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. We’re seeing Youtube Shorts experiencing an explosive growth with an estimated 50 billion daily views, and Instagram Reels is recorded to be the type of content that generates the highest average reach, at 20,59%, according to Social Insider stats.
Despite the uncertainty around the future of TikTok, there is no need to panic just yet about its potential ban, and if it comes to it, there are plenty of alternative platforms that exist and are still driving marketing opportunities for your brand to take advantage of. It is worth leveraging your short-form video content on Instagram Reels, Facebook Watch, and/or Youtube Shorts, so even if TikTok does end up leaving the room, all of that video content will continue to serve its purpose, and the TikTok views can be condensed into other platforms.