Governor Greg Abbott joins four other governors in banning TikTok for all state employees. All state agencies in Texas are banned from using the highly popular app due to cybersecurity concerns.
TikTok, is a video-sharing social media platform based in China. Citing the “threat of the Chinese Communist Party gaining access to critical U.S. information and infrastructure,” the ban is for all state agencies using the app on any government-issued device. These include cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and other devices.
“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” Abbott wrote in letters directing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dade Phelan and state agency leaders. “While TikTok has claimed that it stores U.S. data within the U.S., the company admitted in a letter to Congress that Chine-based employees can have access to U.S. data.”
“Further, under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, all businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work including data sharing, and TikTok’s algorithm has already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including the Tiananmen Square protests,” Abbott wrote.
Governor Abbott wants the 88th Texas Legislature, which will convene next year, to codify and implement any cybersecurity reforms that may be deemed necessary. Abbott pointed to recent allegations made by FBI Director Christopher Wray. Wray gave a presentation to U.S. legislators warning that the Chinese government can use TikTok’s location services and content algorithm to surveil and influence Americans. Don’t mess with Texas.
The letter to Patrick and Phelan notes Abbott wants the ban on TikTok to be effective immediately. He has ordered a January 15, 2023 deadline for theTexas Department of Public Safety and the Department of Information Resources to develop a model plan for state agencies to use with respect to TikTok vulnerabilities on personal devices.
South Dakota, South Carolina, and Maryland have taken action to ban the use of TikTok by state agencies. Texas was the fourth state to do the same. The list is growing. Indiana is number five. All of the states are concerned about the platform that is influenced by China.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced two lawsuits against TikTok.
One lawsuit accuses TikTok of luring children onto the platform through “infrequent/mild” sexual content, profanity or drug references, the attorney general said, when the app is full of extreme examples of that type of material.
The second lawsuit claims “highly sensitive” data and personal information about Indiana consumers is not protected from the Chinese government and Communist party.
“The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” Rokita said in a statement. “With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law.”
Chinese employees of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, can access U.S. TikTok user data. China can use TikTok, though ByteDance, to influence American cultural or political behavior.
Most voters support proposals by some members of Congress for federal legislation to ban TikTok from the United States. 68% of likely voters support the proposals, according to Rasmussen.
