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Gov. Jim Justice wasn’t the first to call to action against TikTok on government devices, and it may not be the last.
At least 18 states, led by Republican governors, have banned officials from using the social media app TikTok on government devices over concerns about the potential security risks posed by the Chinese-owned company. to collect data from users’ devices, which the Chinese government has access to.
The Justice Department said last Tuesday that the country has already banned TikTok and other social media platforms that connect to the People’s Republic of China from state-owned computers and devices. It said it plans to submit a bill.
Some states have extended the ban to other apps and products such as WeChat, QQWallet and AliPay from other Chinese companies.
In Maryland, Republican Governor Larry Hogan authorized Chief Information Security Officer Chip Stewart to issue such an emergency order. The directive prohibits a public official from using not only his TikTok, but also the information technology products and platforms of four other Chinese companies and one Russian company. Government agencies must remove the product from state networks and stop using it.
“Many states have issued executive orders to ban TikTok, which is great for today,” Stewart said. “But what if tomorrow there’s a new product they want banned? Are they going to issue an executive order for each?”
Governors of at least three states—Georgia, New Hampshire, and Virginia—have also banned WeChat and other apps and products from various Chinese companies, not just TikTok.
Over the past few weeks, state governors have announced bans on TikTok for state officials, but so far no Democrats have.
But action at the federal level was bipartisan. This month, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill banning federal employees from using her TikTok on government-owned devices. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, has said she supports such a limit, as has House Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican California.
Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio wants to go even further. He, along with other social media companies in or under the influence of China, Russia, and several other “countries of concern,” has passed bipartisan related bills to the House of Representatives banning TikTok from operating in the United States. We have introduced measures to
Then-President Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok from the US app stores in 2020, citing security concerns, but was blocked by a federal judge.
In November, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before a congressional hearing that his agency was “extremely concerned” about TikTok’s activity in the United States. He said the Chinese government could use it to collect user data and control the app’s algorithms to manipulate content and launch influence campaigns.
This month, Wray again warned that TikTok user data could fall into the hands of a Chinese government that “doesn’t share our values,” saying China could collect data for espionage. I was.
Cybersecurity experts say the governor’s ban is a smart move.
“The state oversees law enforcement, transportation, and utilities. Director Anton Derbra said. “Overt security isn’t the only way someone can bring a power grid down. It’s breaking into systems to obtain sensitive information that is of great value to foreign actors.”
TikTok, which allows users to create and share videos on any topic, has over 1 billion users worldwide and over 100 million in the United States. State bans do not apply to employee personal devices unless they are connected to a state network.
A TikTok spokesperson said the accusations against the company were false and that the Chinese government was not involved in its business.
“It is unfortunate that many state agencies, offices and universities in these states will no longer be able to use TikTok to build communities and connect with voters,” spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in an email to Stateline. says.
In fact, several state agencies, such as the governor’s office, tourism departments, and state universities, are using TikTok to reach new audiences, especially younger audiences.
Several federal agencies, including the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Transportation Security Administration, have already banned employees from using TikTok on government phones and devices. The White House has also banned the app.
“Now that states are jumping into the fray, the hypothesis is that they may want to use this as a brownie point. Harry Brodman, a former member of the U.S. Foreign Investment Board, said:
In Maryland, Stewart said authorities had been considering banning TikTok for months, but Ray’s public warnings had “impacted our scale” and led to the ban. .
In response to US concerns that US users’ information could be shared with the Chinese government, TikTok announced earlier this year that it had moved all its data to Silicon Valley company Oracle. However, TikTok has said it will continue to keep backups of that information.
TikTok spokesperson Oberwetter said that although the parent company was founded in China, TikTok has offices and operations around the world and is neither state-owned nor controlled by the Chinese government. .
But China has laws that require private companies to provide information to the government, said Holden Triplett, co-founder of Trenchcoat Advisors, a Washington, DC-based risk advisory firm.
“Any company located in China may have the best of intentions, but it doesn’t matter. Ultimately, if the Chinese government wants to force them to comply, they have to. You have to,” said Triplett, a former FBI special agent and head of the National Security Council’s counterintelligence division.
While it’s true that other social media companies such as Twitter and Facebook track users’ data, experts say TikTok is different. These companies are based in the United States and use the United States to market their products and sell their data. Law enforcement usually has to go through courts to gain access.
China doesn’t ask for it, they say, and the data can easily be traced for the purpose of gathering information about Americans.
“TikTok has access to your camera and phone, Wi-Fi connection, contacts, GPS and storage. It can read what you’re doing and what you’ve been doing.” Headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts said Brian Haugli, CEO of SideChannel, a global cybersecurity company.
© 2022 Pew Charitable Trust
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
— Register-Herald contributed to this report.
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