One of Europe's largest public authority profiles on TikTok, and the largest in terms of followers per capita, remains on the platform despite recent concerns that Chinese authorities may gain access to user data. Others are considering their next move.

In the city of Bergen, a team of police officers in the Western Norwegian police district runs Europe's largest public authority profile on TikTok, measured by followers per inhabitant. The profile Politivest, one of the Norwegian police's online patrols on TikTok, has 823.000 followers in a country with 5.4 million citizens. In comparison, the largest Norwegian online media, VGnett, has just under 140,000 followers on the platform.

Time will tell if the profile lasts. In Norway, like many other western countries, restrictions to access TikTok have recently been introduced for key employees in the public sector. At the time of writing, this applies to i.a. the European Commission and the European Parliament plus countries like Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden.

But for the time being, Politivest wil stay on the platform.

How does that make sense?

Special telephones and ‘a work-related need'

The answer can be found on the Norwegian government's website regeringen.no. In a post on March 23 2023 , the Norwegian Prime Minister advises ministers and high-ranking employees in the central administration against using TikTok (and Telegram).

It also reads, though, that the use of the app can be upheld if there is 'a work-related need for it', and if separate phones are used that are not connected to the authorities' internal system data.

A separate phone that is, without access to emails, contacts, calendars and other potentially sensitive data.

Cyber security expert: Restrictions and precautions make sense under certain conditions

The restrictions and precautions like the introduction of special TikTok phones make sense under certain conditions if you ask Dr. Sven Herpig. He is the head of the cybersecurity policy and resilience program at 'Stiftung Neue Verantwortung,' a German think tank on tech policy.

- TikTok is an app that collects data. If you belong to one of the target groups for Chinese intelligence operations, such as politicians, activists opposing Chinese politics or minorities oppressed by the Chinese government, then you could be in the danger zone, says Dr. Sven Herpig.

TikTok itself has recently strongly opposed the accusation that the Chinese government, via TikTok's parent company Bytedance, can gain access to users' data. Among other things, they argue that the majority of TikTok's ownership group consists of foreign investors, and that the founders of Bytedance's share is only 20 percent. However, the opaque ownership structure is not something that can prevent Chinese authorities from forcing access to the data if they want to, according to media reports from Western security experts.

It's about being on the safe side cyber security-wise. The Western governments do not want to run the theoretical risk that Chinese authorities could gain access to the data of ministers and key employees, such as their whereabouts, their contacts and their biometric data. Dr. Sven Herpig adds, however, that the risk can be reduced slightly if telephones dedicated to social media use are employed and handled accordingly.

Go or no-go?

So, as a lot of public communicators in Europe might ask themselves these days, go or no-go to TikTok? We would like at ProPublica to give a clear answer. That’s not easy. Asked whether public authorities should generally refrain from using TikTok, i.e. both those who are currently operating on the platform and those who are considering to establish an official profile, Sven Herpig's colleague Dr. Martin Degeling replies:

- If the authority has an official communication task to carry out, there may be good reasons for the communication department to have a profile on TikTok, because it allows to communicate with a specific, young user group that might otherwise be hard to reach.

But the cost/benefit calculation does not only include considerations about the communicative or operational benefit or the more or less real concerns about the Chinese accessing data on the police force’s whereabouts in a western Norwegian city.

- There are also good reasons for not being on TikTok - or indeed any other social media platform. In Germany, for example, the data protection authorities strongly discourage the authorities from running pages on Facebook due to data protection concerns. Authorities should also consider that their use supports the business model of monopolistic private communication platforms that harvest citizens' data, sometimes without explicit consent, Degeling says.

Norwegian police remain for the time being

For the employees who run the Norwegian police's profile Politivest, the cost/benefit analysis currently falls out to TikTok's advantage.

They are going to operate with separate special phones in line with the Norwegian Police Directorate's new recommendations, but they are not going to shut down the profile.

- We have to make some choices, and we consider currently that the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages, says Rune Fimreite, teamlead at Politivest.

- Our communication on the channel primarily consists of preventive messages that benefit the citizens. For example info on what to do if you are exposed to grooming. Children and young people use TikTok as a news channel, and we publish information that is useful for the target group, Rune Fimreite says.

According to Fimreite, it weighs a good deal in the assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of using the channel that TikTok opens the doors to some completely different target groups then the ones they normally communicate with.

- It is an incredibly effective communication channel. We reach a lot of people in a short time. It's an opportunity we've never had before, Fimreite says.

Dance moves and grooming prevention

Politivest’s post with the biggest reach recently show three Norwegian police officers in full uniform performing a series of silly synchronized dance moves to the tunes of DJ Laz's 15-year-old 'boom, shake, drop,' in a so-called trend on TikTok.

That stuff will probably not impress legal advisors, data and cyber security experts or psychologists with expertise in young people's screen use and mental health. But when you consider that that post has so far received more than 5 million views and that more than 6,000 people have commented, almost all of which are overwhelmingly positive, it is a factor that must be taken into account.

As an example of the preventive work done Fimreite and his colleagues, he mentions posts that are also widely shared, giving children and young people knowledge and tools to deal with inappropriate messages on the platform.

This is probably part of the reason why Rune Fimreite & company believes that there is 'a work-related need' to stay on the platform.

In any case, the Norwegian police officers continue to dance and prevent on the profile for the time being.

ProPublica has been in contact with several of Europe's largest public authority profiles on TikTok. Most say that they have not yet made a final decision on whether they will stay or leave TikTok.