Australian broadcaster Sky News has left TikTok because of a national security risk and a central aspect of modern digital editorial strategies to reach new demographics.
Security concerns have led India and several Western governments to ban the video app on devices used by officials.
In an article published on the Sky News Australia website Monday, digital editor Jack Houghton said the security risks posed by the “Beijing-controlled platform” were “too great for any serious news publisher.”
Sky News Australia will cease publishing on the platform, abandoning 65,000 followers and many millions of video views in favour of adopting a consistent approach to security that protects its journalists and audiences.
“TikTok is a spy network masquerading as a social media platform which has been proven to illegally pilfer the data of journalists, public citizens and politicians,” the Sky News article said.
Tiktok and bans
While a number of governments have moved to delete TikTok from their employees’ phones, most major news companies are yet to follow.
Last month, the BBC advised staff to delete TikTok from their work phones, following a similar move by the Danish public broadcaster, DR, but the British broadcaster still publishes its content on the short form video app to millions of followers.
