Wisconsin and North Carolina have joined a growing number of states and the US government in banning the use of TikTok on government devices over cybersecurity concerns.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers announced that he will be banning vendors, products and services from other Chinese companies, including Huawei Technologies, Hikvision, ZTE Corp, Tencent Holdings and Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, in addition to TikTok. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper signed an order directing officials to develop a policy within 14 days that prohibits the use of TikTok, WeChat, and “potentially other applications” that present cybersecurity risks on state devices.
The move comes after more than 20 other states have banned TikTok from state devices, including Ohio, New Jersey, and Arkansas earlier this week. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, has more than 100 million users. The company has been seeking to assure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its content cannot be manipulated by China’s Communist Party or any other entity under Beijing’s influence.
The calls to ban TikTok from government devices gained momentum after the US FBI Director Christopher Wray said in November that the app poses national security risks. Wray flagged the threat that the Chinese government could harness the app to influence users or control their devices.
Last month, US President Joe Biden signed into law a government funding bill that included a ban on federal employees from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices. The law gives the White House Office of Management and Budget 60 days to develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal of TikTok from federal devices.
TikTok has expressed disappointment at the move, stating that the policies being enacted will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in the states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about the app.