• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 5, 2019

Social platform TikTok has appointed Omnicom’s PHD as its new media agency after a review.

The company, part of China’s ByteDance, previously worked with Initiative on a project basis. The agency did not participate in the review.

PHD will handle most of the platform's media planning and buying duties globally, with exceptions including China and UK markets. The latter will be handled by PHD sibling agency Hearts & Science. 

Earlier this year, TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine following allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that the firm illegally acquired data from children.

In November of 2017, ByteDance acquired lip-syncing app music.ly for $1 billion and combined it with TikTok.