The stress on ByteDance’s TikTok app in the US continues, with a number of US states becoming a member of in banning the app from native authorities units.
Reuters reported that Kentucky has joined greater than 20 US states to ban the video-sharing app on authorities units, citing cybersecurity issues.
Simply earlier than Christmas, the US Senate handed a invoice sponsored by Republican Senator Josh Hawley to ban federal staff from utilizing TikTok on government-owned units.
US bans
Later, the US Congress additionally handed laws prohibiting US authorities staff from downloading or utilizing TikTok on their government-owned units.
That ban was a part of a invoice that features TikTok’s provision to ban the app on federally administered units.
Final month, President Joe Biden signed into legislation a authorities funding invoice that included banning federal staff from utilizing or downloading TikTok on government-owned units.
This legislation implies that the White Home Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB) has 60 days “to develop requirements and pointers for government businesses that require the removing” of TikTok from federal units.
State bans
TikTok had already confronted a rising variety of US states banning the app on native authorities units.
Now, Reuters famous that Kentucky has joined Wisconsin, Mississippi, Indiana, Louisiana and South Dakota, plus North Carolina, Ohio, New Jersey, Arkansas and others, to ban TikTok on authorities units for cybersecurity causes.
Wisconsin’s ban was confirmed by Gov. Tony Evers final week.
BREAKING: We simply signed an government order banning TikTok and different potential cybersecurity-threatening applied sciences from government-issued units. Defending our state’s cybersecurity know-how and infrastructure and defending digital privateness will proceed to be a high precedence. pic.twitter.com/JR6tM4iLyI
— Governor Tony Evers (@GovEvers) January 12, 2023
Some states have gone past simply focusing on TikTok in China.
For instance, New Jersey and Wisconsin have additionally banned sellers, services and products from different Chinese language corporations, together with Huawei, Hikvision, Tencent (the proprietor of WeChat), ZTE, in addition to Russia-based Kaspersky Lab.
ByteDance’s reply
TikTok advised Reuters it was “upset that so many states are turning to politics to implement insurance policies that may do nothing to advertise cybersecurity of their states and are primarily based on unsubstantiated falsehoods about TikTok.”
It ought to be famous that the majority US states to date to ban TikTok have had Republican governors.
However Wisconsin, North Carolina and Kentucky have Democratic governors.
Safety issues
Calls to ban TikTok from authorities units gained momentum after US FBI Director Christopher Wray stated in November that it posed nationwide safety dangers.
TikTok’s case was not helped when ByteDance not too long ago admitted that some employees members improperly accessed the TikTok consumer knowledge of two journalists.
Forbes in December additionally reported that ByteDance had focused a number of Forbes journalists, together with some who beforehand labored at BuzzFeed “as a part of a covert surveillance marketing campaign” geared toward uncovering the supply of the leaks.
In October, TikTok denied a Forbes report that it had “focused” US residents and insisted it didn’t acquire correct GPS location knowledge.
On this aspect of the pond, the UK Parliament has shut down its TikTok account after solely per week of operation.