Cannes and TikTok have renewed their partnership, but could that change during the crackdown on the app?

The Cannes Film Festival has extended its partnership with TikTok for short films for a second year, a move that is likely to be tested amid global debate over the platform’s privacy and data security record.

Deputy General Thierry Frémaux said in an interview with Variety on Monday that despite a bumpy first edition of the competition, the festival is “satisfied” with the partnership and “human relationship” it forged with TikTok.

His comments come three days after France joined a growing list of countries banning the app on state-issued devices due to security concerns, along with the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Canada.

Deadline asked the festival whether this development would affect the collaboration and also whether employees of the partially state-funded festival would be subject to the phone ban. The festival did not respond.

TikTok is one of the twelve official partners of Cannes, along with luxury jeweler Chopard, hairdressing brand Dessange, state broadcaster France TV and fashion group Kering.

The TikTok partnership was announced in 2022 amid fanfare and suggestions that the pairing would help the festival connect with younger generations.

The competition got off to a shaky start when French-Cambodian documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh resigned as chairman of the jury, complaining of interference from the Chinese app. He returned a few days later after writing assurances that the jury’s decisions would be respected.

TikTok credited the initiative as a success and later announced that content linked to the short film hashtag had generated 9.5 billion views.

Much quieter was the announcement of the partnership extension for 2023. TikTok posted the news on its platform on March 6, but the festival’s only confirmation of the deal at the time was a retweet of the TikTok tweet announcing the launch.

Like last year, the contest is open to all TikTok creators, who can enter by filling out an official form and uploading their work to TikTok with the hashtag #TikTokShortFilm.

A shortlist of 40 papers will be created from the papers with the most views and levels of participation. It will then be evaluated by a jury, the details of which are not yet known. The three winners will be invited to an award ceremony in Cannes in May.

Western government opposition to TikTok has grown in recent weeks, fueled by concerns about what happens to the data the platform collects from users.

Critics suggest that TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, has access to all the data collected by the app and could come under pressure to share it with Chinese authorities, especially at a time of deteriorating China-West relations. .

US lawmakers who questioned TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a hearing before the US Congress in Washington last week went so far as to claim the app is a surveillance tool and a threat to national security.

Other concerns relate to the use of the platform as a tool for spreading misinformation and shaping beliefs, and its impact on mental health, particularly among young people, with the 10-19 age group accounting for around 25% of users.

In addition to Cannes, TikTok also recently announced collaborations with France’s upcoming Salon du Livre in Paris in April and the Eurovision Song Contest, and also has ties to a number of other cultural and entertainment events in Europe.

TikTok’s European operations have sought to address data security concerns and recently announced a new data security regime under the Project Clover banner.

Under the program, data collected in Europe is stored on servers in Ireland and Norway, and security gateways have been put in place to monitor data transfers from the region.

Despite government concerns, TikTok remains an important platform for influencers and online creators in Europe. According to figures released by the European Office in February, 150 million people across Europe visit the site every month.