BBC advises staff to delete TikTok from work phone

The BBC has advised staff to delete TikTok from corporate phones because of privacy and security fears.

The BBC seems to be the first UK media organisation to issue the guidance - and only the second in the world after Denmark's public service broadcaster.

The BBC said it would continue to use the platform for editorial and marketing purposes for now. TikTok has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The app has been banned on government phones in the UK and elsewhere.

Countries imposing bans include the US, Canada, New Zealand and Belgium, while the same applies to anyone working at the European Commission.

However, it is still permitted on personal devices.

The big fear is that data harvested by the platform from corporate phones could be shared with the Chinese government by TikTok's parent company ByteDance, because its headquarters are in Beijing.

TikTok says the bans are based on "fundamental misconceptions".

ByteDance employees were found to have tracked the locations of a handful of Western journalists in 2022. The company says they were fired.

Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked for her view on the BBC's decision, and tweeted: "If protecting sources isn't a priority, that's a major problem."