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Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Wisconsin became the latest state to ban the use of TikTok on state phones and other devices on Thursday. A popular Chinese-owned social media app.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ordered the ban after consulting with the FBI and emergency management officials. He cited potential risks to privacy, safety, and security. Evers’ order applies to most state agencies, with a few exceptions, such as criminal investigators who may be using the app to track certain people.
“Protecting our state’s technology and cybersecurity infrastructure and protecting digital privacy remains our top priority,” Evers tweeted when announcing the ban.
The University of Wisconsin system, which employs 40,000 faculty members, is also exempt. A spokesperson for the system did not immediately return a message for comment on whether it would set its own ban.
UW has many official TikTok accounts, including one for the women’s volleyball team with over 41,000 followers. Colleges often use his TikTok account as a recruiting tool to connect with high school students.
The ban, enforced by the state’s tech department, already limits the apps state employees can access on government phones.
Only about a dozen phones in the state have TikTok, Evers said.
Evers himself doesn’t have a personal or official TikTok account, but he maintained one earlier this year in support of his re-election campaign. His office says the account is not used on state-issued devices.
TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, which moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. Critics said the Chinese government could have access to user data such as browsing history and location. The US military also bans the app from being used on military devices.
TikTok is used by two-thirds of American teens, making it the second most popular domain in the world. But in Washington, there has long been bipartisan concern that Beijing will use the power of law and regulation to seize American user data or to spread pro-China rhetoric and misinformation. there were.
Last year, news reports that a China-based team improperly accessed the data of US TikTok users, including two journalists, as part of a covert surveillance program to trace the sources of leaks to news outlets. Fear was stirred.
There are also concerns that the company is sending large amounts of user data to China in violation of Europe’s strict privacy regulations.
TikTok spokesman Jamal Brown said in an email that “too many states have done nothing to advance their cybersecurity and have policies based on unsubstantiated and false statements about TikTok. I am disappointed that they are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact it.” statement.
TikTok is developing a security and data privacy plan as part of President Joe Biden’s administration’s ongoing national security review.
At least 20 states, including Mississippi, Indiana, Louisiana, and South Dakota, have banned the use of TikTok on government devices.
The ban in Wisconsin came after Republicans in the Wisconsin legislative delegation, including Rep. Mike Gallagher, cited concerns that the Chinese government could use TikTok to spy on users and spread propaganda. It was done after asking Mr. Evers to ban the app.
Gallagher of Florida and Republican Senator Marco Rubio introduced a bipartisan bill in December to ban TikTok from operating in the United States. Gallagher this week took over as chairman of a new House committee created with broad bipartisan support to investigate a “strategic rivalry” between the United States and China.
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