Ministers eye TikTok comeback to reach younger voters despite security concerns

4 December 2024, 07:52

Ministers are looking at relaxing the Tory government's TikTok ban in a bid to woo younger voters online, LBC understands.

Officials could allow the prime minister and government departments to get their own accounts - as Brits abandon Facebook and X in droves.

Currently there is limited use of TikTok within government, and it was banned from all devices in March 2023 over security concerns.

Users have to hand over contacts, user content and location data - which ministers feared may be being passed to TikTok's owner, the Chinese-linked firm, Bytedance.

Read more: TikTok to ban teenagers from using beauty filters over mental health concerns

Read more: Telegram to work with internet watchdog on child sexual abuse material crackdown

No10 Downing Street has a TikTok account - but it hasn't been used since Boris Johnson was prime minister.

Now several sources have told LBC that getting the Government on TikTok is on the cards.

It was used successfully as part of a £160,000 Cabinet Office campaign to pump out messages in a bid to quell the unrest - warning people they faced prison time for joining.

Officials are setting up a flashy New Media Unit working between Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, to use influencers to target younger voters.

One source said: “It’s been kept under consideration. It’s not totally banned, but you do need permission, as it were.

“Any changes we could make wouldn’t be sweeping ones.”

Another added: "We used it in the riots already, and we’re constantly discussing how to reach people better."

Former Twitter VP weighs in on social media 'misinformation'

However, it's understood the changes won't see the ban on downloading it onto government phones be lifted.

The Cabinet Office paid for adverts on TikTok and other forms of social media in a £160,000 bid to quell unrest and stamp down disinformation over the summer.

It comes as Sir Keir Starmer plans a stronger relationship with China - and plans a visit there next year to boost trade and working together on climate change.

But Tory MPs and security experts have warned of the risks of cosying up to the rogue state.

TikTok is now the fourth largest social media platform in the UK after YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, Ofcom said last week.

Three in four online 18 - 24 year olds used TikTok in May, spending nearly an hour scrolling, but no government departments are allowed to formally use it to push out messages or announcements.

Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter, is one of the government's main social media platforms - but daily users have dropped from 26.5m in 2022 when Mr Musk bought the company to 22.2m this year.

Critics say the platform is riddled with harmful content and is putting kids at risk.

TikTok (22%) and YouTube (13%) are the services where teen users were most likely to encounter a potential harm, Ofcom say.

The government has been approached for comment.