{"id":21845,"date":"2022-12-08T03:46:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T03:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/texas-joins-other-states-and-bans-the-use-of-tiktok-on-government-issued-devices\/"},"modified":"2022-12-08T03:46:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T03:46:18","slug":"texas-joins-other-states-and-bans-the-use-of-tiktok-on-government-issued-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/08\/texas-joins-other-states-and-bans-the-use-of-tiktok-on-government-issued-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas joins other states and bans the use of TikTok on government-issued devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Texas governor Greg Abbott announced today that amid security concerns, government-issued devices should not have TikTok installed.<\/p>\n

Since TikTok took off in the U.S., politicians and other government officials, have talked about how the app is a threat to\u00a0national security<\/a>. Former president Donald Trump wanted to ban<\/a> TikTok completely, accusing it of being spying software for China\u2019s Communist Party, but that never happened. In a letter Abbott sent to government agencies today, he echoed Trump\u2019s contentions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users\u2019 devices \u2013 including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity \u2013 and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,\u201d Abbott said. \u201cWhile TikTok has claimed that it stores U.S. data within the U.S., the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to U.S. data. It has also been reported that ByteDance planned to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbot said he doesn\u2019t want anyone using TikTok on government devices, and he certainly doesn\u2019t want anyone downloading the app on their phones, laptops, or tablets from now, adding to the 85 million people that already use the app in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Abbot isn\u2019t doing anything new here. South Dakota, Maryland, and Wisconsin have also issued warnings about the security threat that TikTok poses. This week, South Dakota\u2019s governor Larry Hogan said he wouldn\u2019t allow \u201cforeign actors\u201d and other organizations \u201cto weaken and divide us\u201d while the U.S. armed forces have also just clamped down on the app.<\/p>\n

Today, Todd Rokita, the attorney general for Indiana, filed the first state lawsuit against TikTok, stating that the company hasn\u2019t been honest about the data it collects on its users and also saying that it has allowed mature content to be viewed by a younger audience. Therefore, he said, the app has broken the state\u2019s consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n

TikTok spokesman Jamal Brown said that these new accusations have no grounding in truth. He added that the company is always happy to speak with state policymakers if there are misgivings about the app. \u201cWe are disappointed that the many state agencies, offices, and universities that have been using TikTok to build communities and connect with constituents will no longer have access to our platform,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Photo: Solen Feyissa<\/a>\/Unsplash<\/h5>\n
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