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The most recent states to prohibit TikTok on government-owned smartphones include New Jersey and Ohio due to national security concerns In doing so, the two have joined at least 20 other states. The decision was made in response to worries that data collection could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans.
Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey stated on Monday that the state has issued a cybersecurity directive forbidding the use of high-risk applications and services, such as TikTok, on equipment owned by the government. Murphy claimed that in addition to prohibiting TikTok from state-owned devices, the state also forbade goods and services from multiple other suppliers, such as Huawei, Hikvision, Tencent, and ZTE.
On the same day, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed an executive order prohibiting the use of any applications controlled by Chinese entities on government-owned devices. According to DeWine’s order, “the users of these applications and platforms as well as the devices hosting the applications and platforms pose national and local security and cybersecurity dangers due to these covert data privacy and cybersecurity activities.”
The popular short-form video app will soon be removed from state-owned devices, according to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who announced his intention to join other states in doing so on Friday.
A TikTok representative told TechCrunch, “We’re sad that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact regulations that will do nothing to promote cybersecurity in their jurisdictions and are based on inaccurate claims about TikTok.” “We are continuing to work with the federal government to develop a conclusion that will significantly address any security concerns identified at the federal and state levels,” the statement reads.
After FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed in November that the app poses hazards to national security, calls to ban TikTok on government computers grew. President Joe Biden signed a bill in December that forbids employees of the federal government from using TikTok on equipment that belongs to its agencies. The U.S. military has also forbidden its personnel from using TikTok on official equipment out of concern that the software can potentially reveal personal information to “unwanted actors.”
Additionally, there are initiatives to remove TikTok from consumer electronics in the US. Senator Marco Rubio put forth legislation last month that would outlaw TikTok nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of American teenagers are among the app’s 1 billion users, which gives the Chinese government “a unique ability to monitor more than 1 billion users worldwide,” according to Rubio.
For many years, TikTok has been a source of privacy and security issues. This could only be the beginning of the difficulties the business will face in the upcoming year given the increased scrutiny TikTok is receiving.
