Utah Latest State To Ban The App On Government Devices

Topline

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) issued an executive order banning the use of TikTok on government devices Monday, the latest in a surge of states pushing to ban the app—owned by Chinese firm ByteDance—on national security grounds.

Wisconsin congress members called for TikTok to be banned from government devices Tuesday.

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Key Facts

Cox’s executive order cites warnings the Chinese government could use TikTok to obtain “confidential” and “private” information and prohibits anyone contracted by the state government from downloading or using TikTok on a state-owned device.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered all Texas state agencies not to use TikTok on government-issued devices in a similar decision issued last week, noting the app “harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices” and “and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) cited the same concerns when she banned TikTok from government devices last month, arguing the “growing national security threat posed by TikTok” required a ban to “protect the private data of South Dakota citizens.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) also prohibited any applications developed by TikTok as well as Chinese firms Huawei Technologies, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba and Russian company Kaspersky in an emergency cybersecurity directive last week.

Several Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin urged Gov. Tony Evers (D) to ban TikTok from Wisconsin government devices last week, declaring TikTok “nefarious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spyware that surveils Americans citizens,” in a letter that leaned on a Forbes article reporting ByteDance planned to monitor the location of American citizens and a New York Times article suggesting the app can track user keystrokes.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R)’s office indicated in a statement this week to local station WKRN he has taken steps to ban TikTok on any personal or state-owned device connected to the state network, after Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) suggested the app steals user information.

Virginia state Sen. Ryan McDougle told a local outlet last week he plans to introduce a bill banning the app next month, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) has called a state-level ban “absolutely appropriate, though McDougle said the “best-case scenario would be for [Gov. Glenn Youngkin] to issue an executive order to make it happen immediately” (Youngkin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes).

What To Watch For

Following the letter sent to Evers, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R) told WISN he plans to propose a nationwide ban on TikTok in a bipartisan bill this week, adding “there’s a lot of Republican support. We’re slowly bringing on Democratic colleagues.”

Crucial Quote

FBI Director Chris Wray said TikTok could “technically compromise” U.S. devices in a statement last month, according to Reuters, adding “the possibility that the Chinese government could use [TikTok] to control data collection on millions of users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations” is a risk.

Contra

In response to Wray’s remarks, a TikTok spokesperson noted “the FBI’s input is being considered as part of our ongoing negotiations with the U.S. government. While we can’t comment on the specifics of those confidential discussions, we are confident that we are on a path to fully satisfy all reasonable national security concerns.”

Key Background

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have continually been associated with possible national security risks following an order by former President Donald Trump banning downloads of the app and WeChat in 2020. A release sent by the U.S. Commerce Department cited the app has the means to “threaten the national security, foreign policy and the economy of the U.S.” President Joe Biden then revoked Trump’s executive order the following year while promoting a security review of the app, among others, according to the Washington Post.

Tangent

An exclusive Forbes report found that TikTok accounts run by the Chinese government attacked U.S. politicians before the midterm elections while pushing divisive social issues without disclosure the accounts were run by a foreign government.