Banning TikTok in New Jersey and Ohio
Banning TikTok - New Jersey and Ohio said on Monday they were joining other states in banning the use of the popular video app TikTok on devices owned or managed by the government.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said he was banning not only the short-video app from Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance on state-owned devices, but also software providers, products and services from more than a dozen vendors, including Huawei, Hikvision, Tencent Holdings, ZTE Corporation and Kaspersky Lab.
Why is TikTok banned in New Jersey and Ohio?
New Jersey and Ohio are the latest states to ban TikTok on government devices for national security reasons. The two states have joined at least 20 other states in doing so. The move comes amid fears that the data collected could allow the Chinese government to spy on Americans.
Murphy's office said, "There were national security concerns about user data that the Chinese government could request from ByteDance."
Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine stated in his executive order that "these surreptitious privacy and cybersecurity practices pose national and local security and cybersecurity threats to users of these apps and platforms and the devices on which the apps and platforms are stored."
Will Wisconsin ban TikTok?
On Friday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he would join other states in banning the use of the popular video app, which has more than 100 million users in the United States. Republican governors have taken the initiative to ban TikTok from state devices, while some Democratic governors have been slower to do so.
TikTok said it was "disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to take actions that do nothing to improve cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok"
On Friday, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he plans to join other states in banning the use of the popular video app, which has more than 100 million users in the United States.
Republican governors have taken the initiative to ban TikTok from state devices, while some Democratic governors have been slower to do so.
Will state bans of TikTok forgo benefits?
Jamal Brown, spokesman for TikTok, said it is "unfortunate" that states enacting such bans will miss out on the benefits of TikTok, namely community building and information sharing.
Calls for a ban on TikTok on government devices grew louder after the director of FBI, Christopher Wray, said in November that TikTok posed a risk to national security. Wray pointed to the risk that the Chinese government could use the app to influence users or control their devices.
Will federal employees be allowed to use TikTok on government devices?
In December, President Joe Biden approved a bill that would prohibit federal employees from using TikTok on government devices because the app could be used to spy on American users.
Reuters reported Friday that TikTok has put on hold hiring consultants to help the company implement a possible security agreement with the United States, according to two people familiar with the matter, as more U.S. officials oppose such a deal.
For the past three years, TikTok has been trying to reassure Washington that the Chinese Communist Party or any other organization under Beijing's influence does not have access to U.S. citizens' personal data and that its content cannot be tampered with.
