In the USA, the video app Tiktok is facing forced sale or a ban due to possible Chinese influence. In Germany, the leading sports associations enter into official partnerships with the network.
US President Joe Biden signed a law on Wednesday (April 24, 2024) that is intended to bring about a change in ownership of Tiktok. The China-based company Bytedance is expected to sell the app within a year – otherwise the app will be banned. The company claims to be 60 percent owned by Western investors and headquartered in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. The law will be challenged.
DOSB and DFB enter into partnerships with the platform
Also on Wednesday, the German Olympic Sports Confederation announced that Tiktok would be a long-term partner of “Team Germany”. This collaboration includes the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024 and the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. “The cooperation aims to inspire young people for the Olympic and Paralympic movement,” said the DOSB. It is important to reach a young target group.
At the end of March, the German Football Association (DFB) announced a collaboration with the video platform, which also includes the home European Championship. The contributions of German footballers now include “paid partnership”. Both associations did not publicly provide any information about possible payments from Tiktok.
Tiktok is very popular among young people. The Sportschau and other ARD offerings such as the Tagesschau also distribute content on the platform. Most recently, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also started an account on Tiktok.
Criticism of Tiktok also in Germany
But there is also criticism of the platform in Germany. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) warned on Wednesday about espionage from China. BfV Vice President Sinan Selen Selen said in Berlin that Germany was “watching very closely how the decision-making processes take place in the USA and what results are achieved there.” Then you think about your own conclusions. In several US states and numerous European countries, government employees are prohibited from using Tiktok on work cell phones.
The fear: Tiktok operators can use the app to collect data that is used in China. At the end of 2022, Tiktok admitted that it had used the personal data of journalists who had reported critically on Tiktok.
