What a TikTok ban could mean for advertisers

In March 2023, Cabinet Office Ministers ordered a security review which resulted in the ban of TikTok – the hugely popular video-sharing social network app – on all government devices. The action was taken to protect sensitive government data that could potentially be used by the social media platform.

The UK is not the first country to introduce this precautionary measure with the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the European Commission having already taken similar steps, and some countries, including India, Taiwan, and Pakistan, taking it even further by banning the app completely.

Certain states in the US have also taken action to ban TikTok from personal devices; Montana has passed legislation that could see the app being completely banned as early as January 2024. The legislation will make it illegal for app stores to offer TikTok, but not for citizens to use it if already installed on their devices.

TikTok is owned by Chinese company, ByteDance who, in a recent high-profile, public court case, has been accused of handing user data to the Chinese government. A spokesperson for the firm denied these allegations, and claimed that the accusation was “misguided” and “based on fundamental misconceptions about the company”.

The firm’s representative also explained that the social media platform has taken steps to ensure greater security measures in the EU, stating:

“We have begun implementing a comprehensive plan to further protect our European user data, which includes storing UK user data in our European data centres and tightening data access controls, including third-party independent oversight of our approach.”

Since the ban of TikTok on all UK government devices, the app has been fined £12.7 million for breaches of data protection law by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. It estimated that TikTok allowed 1.4 million children aged under 13 to use the platform in 2020, even though the minimum age to create an account is 13.

In the US, political scrutiny has been even more public, with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew grilled for five hours by congressional representatives over privacy concerns. In addition, the newly installed ‘Tough on China’ committee scrutinised the Chinese TikTok engineers’ ability to access user data.

Chew stated that ‘Project Texas’ was underway, which would see US-based company Oracle oversee American data collected by the app. However, congressional members were left less than satisfied after Chew admitted the project was not yet operational. This leaves uncertainty over the future of the app in the US and possibly the rest of the world.

So, what does all this mean for advertisers?

The prospect of restrictions, or even an outright ban of the app, is a major issue for advertisers because TikTok offers huge advertising opportunities. It has a significant user base – with more than a billion users world-wide, 3.7 million of which are in the UK. Its audience is 38% Gen Z so it’s an ideal platform for targeting those aged under 26. The app is continuing to grow in followers, and was the most downloaded app in the world in 2022. And it offers great reporting and insights from advertising campaigns.

For advertisers, TikTok’s current mix of youth, engagement and insights may prove very difficult to replicate. But that success may be a key reason why regulators in the UK, US and elsewhere, decide to crack down on it.