April 10, 2023
James Madden and Sophie Elsworth
The Australian
Monday 10 April 2023
Australia's highest-reaching news outlet on social media is removing itself from TikTok, citing national security issues.
Sky News Australia (owned by News Corp, publisher of the Australian) will no longer publish content to TikTok, following last week's decision by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to ban the social media platform from all government-issued devices operated by politicians and public servants.
Sky News Australia is the first media outlet in Australia to remove itself from TikTok on security grounds, the BBC asked staff to delete TikTok from their phones two weeks ago, but the British public broadcaster still operates its own account, with 4.4 million followers.
In recent weeks, governments in the UK, US and New Zealand have also banned employees from using TikTok, amid heightened security fears.
Paul Whittaker, chief executive of Sky News Australia, said while the network's TikTok account had amassed a large following, it was not worth the risk to stay on the platform.
"Following recent developments, specifically last week's advice from intelligence and security agencies to the Attorney-General regarding the intense security risk associated with having TikTok on mobile devices, we have made the decision to cease publishing to the platform as a matter of precaution and principle," he told Diary.
Sky News launched its TikTok account in late 2022 and racked up 65,000 followers and many millions of video views over the past six months.
But while the network will no longer be publishing to the platform, it won't be ordering staff to remove the app on their own personal devices (if they are not company property), nor will it be advising its viewers on the matter.
"That is not how we work and people can make their own decisions," an insider said.
"But Sky News will not be part of a spy network of an authoritarian regime known for its hostility towards journalists."
Diary asked other media outlets if they would follow the lead of Sky News Australia, but none wished to comment. Nine Entertainment, which last month ran a three-day series, "Red Alert", which suggested China could potentially engage Australia in "full-scale war" within three years, heavily promoted the newspapers' investigation on TikTok.
Cyber-safety expert Susan McLean recently told the Australian that journalists should not use the Chinese-owned platform - which has more than one billion users - because it put their sources at great risk.
"TikTok has been proven to collect more data than other platforms, and despite what they will tell you, the information goes back to China," Ms McLean said.
"If most people stopped and thought about that they would think that's not OK."
Information that can be potentially harvested by the platform includes a journalist's location, their internet history being recorded, and personal details of their contacts.
Opposition cyber security spokesman James Paterson, the chairman of the Select Committee on Foreign Interference Through Social Media, has warned: "Journalists need to put in measures to protect their sources because we know TikTok has used it to get their sources before."
