Members of Congress have proposed a US-wide ban, following countries such as India that have already banned the use of TikTok.
State agencies in Louisiana and West Virginia yesterday, Monday, became the latest to ban the use of the popular social media app TikTok on devices owned by US governmentfollowing concerns that China is likely to use this application to monitoring Americans, but also due to the imposition of censorship on the content of the posts.
Nineteen of the 50 US states have so far blocked at least one partly accessing TikTok through government computers. The app in question is owned by Beijing-based Chinese company ByteDance Ltd, and most of the restrictions were imposed over the past two weeks.
Some members of Congress last week proposed a US-wide ban, following countries such as India that have already banned the use of TikTok.
Jamf Holding Corp, which sells software to organizations and services to strengthen digital security measures on iPhones and other Apple devices, said its government customers have gradually blocked access to TikTok since the middle of the year.
About 65% of attempted connections to TikTok were blocked this month on devices managed by Jamf’s government customers globally, including school districts, as well as numerous other agencies, compared to 10% of connections blocked in June , according to the same company.
TikTok reiterated an earlier statement yesterday, stressing that the company is “disappointed from the fact that so many states are following the political trend in the US to enable policies based on false information and lies about TikTok. These policies will do nothing to strengthen American national security.”
In Louisiana, Secretary of State Kyle Arduan said he has banned TikTok from all state-owned devices, citing potential security threats, but did not describe current open security issues. Financial Controller JB McCuskey in West Virginia announced that he had done the same.
US officials and TikTok have been in talks for months about a deal that could address concerns about Beijing’s access to the personal data of most of 100 million users of said application in the US.
In the meantime it became known that the Congress will vote to ban federal government employees from accessing TikTok through the use of government-owned devices.
This provision will be included in the funding bill for US government services, sources told Reuters yesterday.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
