2023-11-01 06:54:00
Just a week following the EU Commission banned its employees from using the TikTok app on their work cell phones in February, the EU Parliament also followed suit for its parliamentary devices. The reasons are the same: cybersecurity concerns. TikTok is particularly popular among the younger generation and is therefore also a factor in the upcoming European elections. The video platform, which belongs to the Chinese Bytedance Group, has around one billion users worldwide. TikTok has long been accused of inadequate data security and a lack of protection for young users. There are fears that the Chinese state might have access to TikTok data. TikTok rejects this.
2.1 million users in Austria
The EU is not alone with its concerns: According to the company, 2.1 million people in Austria use the short video app at least monthly, almost one in four people. Austria has also put TikTok on the federal government’s list of banned apps on work cell phones, as have a number of Western and Northern European countries as well as the USA and Australia.
Since the “Digital Services Act” came into force in August, social media platforms have been threatened with hefty fines in the future if they do not take greater action once morest illegal content such as hate and terrorist propaganda. According to its own information, TikTok deleted around four million videos reported as “harmful” in the EU in September.
Collaborate with influencers to reach young voters
Nevertheless, MEPs are trying to appear on TikTok in order to reach young voters. One way to do this is to work with influencers (“content creators”) who are represented on the platform.
“A full 68 percent of 11 to 17 year olds in Austria use TikTok, a large proportion of them even on a daily basis – as a politician you obviously cannot ignore that if you want to reach these people,” explains the Vice President of the European Parliament, Evelyn Regner (SPÖ). , to the APA. Unlike parliamentary staff, there is no ban for MEPs, but there is a recommendation not to install the Chinese service on their cell phones. In addition, TikTok is blocked via the in-house network. “Some MPs have therefore taken the detour of installing TikTok on a device that is not connected to the EU Parliament network in order to still reach younger voters this way,” said Regner.
Advance of trust through influencers
Formats with influencers are an interesting opportunity “that we constantly use to be able to address young people through their role models and thus also reach people who might otherwise have little connection to politics or the topics being discussed,” explains the Vice President of the EU Parliament further. “This step out of our own ‘bubble’ is always an enrichment for both sides.” At the same time, parliamentarians often received an advance of trust through influencers – in times when trust in politics is decreasing.
As an example of a successful cooperation, Regner cites a live discussion on Instagram (“Insta-Live”) with the Polish top model Anja Rubik during the “European Gender Equality Week”. This was “a complete success”. Live discussions on social media are “well received, especially by younger people.”
For Regner, the virtual space is no substitute for “real” exchanges with young people, for example in schools or on the street. “In my opinion, this is the only way to get a real picture of what really moves people, undistorted by algorithms. Especially since disinformation and fake news can unfortunately be found everywhere on the Internet,” says the MEP.
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