North Dakota became the latest state to ban TikTok from state-owned devices.
According to The Associated Press, “Gov. Doug Burgum has banned the popular social media app TikTok from devices owned by the state government’s executive branch, joining several other Republican governors who have done so citing the platform’s Chinese ownership and growing national security worries.”
In response, TikTok issued a statement saying that it was disappointed by the policies that ban TikTok from these devices. Per The Associated Press, TikTok said that the policies were “based on unfounded, politically charged falsehoods about TikTok.”
Earlier this week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox banned TikTok from government devices. KSL.com reported that Cox cited cybersecurity reasons as part of his decision to ban the app from state-owned devices.
After the news broke about Utah, The Washington Post said TikTok released a video listing the various states that have also banned TikTok from state-owned devices.
Which states have banned TikTok from state-owned devices?
According to Reuters, the states that has banned TikTok from state-owned devices are Alabama, Utah, Texas, Maryland and South Dakota. Now North Dakota has also joined that list.
Reuters reported that the states are banning TikTok from these devices due to security concerns. “The actions follow warnings from FBI Director Chris Wray last month who said the Chinese government could use the ByteDance-owned app to control data collection on millions of U.S. users or control the recommendation algorithm, which could be used for influence operations.”