Texas governor Greg Abbott ordered state agencies to ban TikTok on government-issued devices, citing security concerns about the app's data-sharing practices with the Chinese government.
According to one of the letters the governor sent to state agency leaders, TikTok collects vast amounts of data from its users devices, including when, where and how they conduct Internet activity. Several other Republican lawmakers in the country have implemented similar bans on TikTok.
While TikTok claims it stores US data within the US, the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to US data. It was reported by ByteDance that it planned to use TikTok location information to search for individual American citizens.
The letter was cited by China's 2017 National Intelligence Law, which states that businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work, including data sharing. It recounted that TikTok had already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including the Tiananmen Square protests.
As part of Abbott's order, state agency leaders are required to ban employees from downloading and using the app on any government-owned device including cell phones, laptops, tablets and other devices capable of Internet connectivity. Abbott announced a direct joint action by the state department of public safety and department of information resources to address the app's vulnerabilities on personal devices by January 15, 2023.
The state agency will have a month to set its own policy regarding the use of the app on employees' personal devices.
Abbott's order follows in the footsteps of Maryland governor Larry Hogan, who also ordered the ban of Tiktok and several other China and Russia-based platforms in the state's executive branch.
Hogan, a Republican, said in a statement that there is no greater threat to our personal safety and national security than the cyber vulnerabilities that support our daily lives. On Tuesday Wisconsin s Republican representatives in Congress called for Governor Tony Evers to remove TikTok from all state government devices, calling it a national security threat.
Senator Ron Johnson and representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Tiffany, Glenn Grothman, Bryan Steil and Mike Gallagher said that Wisconsinites wanted their governor to be aware of the dangers TikTok poses and to protect them from this avenue for CCP intelligence operations.
The Maryland directive came a week after South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, also a Republican, has banned state employees and contractors from accessing TikTok on state-owned devices, citing its ties to China. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster asked the state department of administration to ban TikTok from all state government devices it manages. In August 2020, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts blocked TikTok on state electronic devices.
In response, TikTok said that the recent slew of bans is fueled by misinformation about our company. We are always happy to meet with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices.
We are disappointed that the many state agencies, offices, and universities that have been using TikTok to connect with constituents will no longer have access to our platform.