»Wisconsin and North Carolina ban TikTok from state devices for security reasons«
On Thursday, the governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina signed orders restricting the use of the popular video app TikTok on government-owned devices, joining other states and the federal government in doing so.
In addition to banning Chinese-owned TikTok from state devices, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced a ban on vendors, products, and services from other Chinese companies, including Huawei Technologies, Hikvision (002415.SZ), Tencent Holdings – the owner of WeChat, ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), and Russian-based Kaspersky Lab.
“In the digital age, defending our state’s technology and cybersecurity infrastructure and protecting digital privacy must be our state’s highest priority,” said Evers.
Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina issued an order mandating that a policy prohibiting the use of TikTok, WeChat, and “potentially other applications” that pose cybersecurity threats on state devices be developed within 14 days.
This week, more than 20 other states, including Ohio, New Jersey, and Arkansas, banned TikTok, controlled by Chinese technology company ByteDance, from state-owned smartphones.
The North Carolina governor, Roy Cooper, issued an order mandating a definitive policy decision prohibiting the usage of TikTok.
TikTok stated that it was “disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded rumors about TikTok.”
The Democratic governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina have joined the majority of Republican governors in leading the push to prohibit TikTok on state-owned devices.
In November, U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that TikTok poses threats to national security, which fueled calls to ban the app on government computers.
Wray drew attention to the possibility that the Chinese government may use the software to manipulate users or take control of their devices.
TikTok stated that it was “disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon” to ban the application.
TikTok, which has more than 100 million users, has spent the past three years assuring Washington that the personal information of U.S. citizens cannot be accessible by the Chinese Communist Party or any other institution under Beijing’s jurisdiction.
A government financing bill signed into law by President Joe Biden last month prohibited federal employees from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices.
The statute gives the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of the White House sixty days to “develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal” of TikTok from federal equipment. Thursday, OMB declined to comment.
»Wisconsin and North Carolina ban TikTok from state devices for security reasons«