Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Monday banned TikTok from state-owned electronic devices citing security concerns associated with the Chinese company that owns the app.
Cox signed an executive order on Monday that prohibits state agencies or agency employees from downloading the social media app or visiting the TikTok website on state-owned phones, computers, laptops or tablets.
The order applies only to executive branch agencies and is effective immediately. Institutions of higher education, the Attorney General's Office, the State Auditor's Officer and the State Treasurer's Office are not included in the ban.
"China's access to data collected by TikTok presents a threat to our cybersecurity," Cox said in a statement. "As a result, we've deleted our TikTok account and ordered the same on all state-owned devices. We must protect Utahns and make sure that the people of Utah can trust the state's security systems."
As of Monday morning, the Utah Department of Transportation's TikTok account with nearly 75,000 followers had been removed.
TikTok has more than 100 million users in the United States but is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Under Chinese national security law, the government can force companies to turn over data including intellectual property and proprietary information of users in the United States.
ByteDance moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
The order states that ByteDance collects data from TikTok users, including private information "potentially including user location," and said the company has acknowledged that its China-based employees can access user data.
In October, Forbes reported that ByteDance's Internal Audit team was planning to use location data collected by TikTok to surveil individual American citizens, although it remains unclear if ByteDance actually gathered data about American citizens. TikTok denied the reporting, posting on Twitter that the app "has never been used to 'target' any members of the U.S. government, activists, public figures or journalists, nor do we serve them a different content experience than other users."
Cox also notes that FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that TikTok poses threats to national security, "including the possibility that the Chinese government uses TikTok to control data collection, influence TikTok's recommendation algorithm, or compromise personal devices."
Cox is the latest governor to clamp down on TikTok use. Last week, Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan enacted a similar ban on the use of TikTok and other China and Russia-based platforms.
Several other Republican governors — in states such as South Dakota, South Carolina, Nebraska and Texas — have banned the use of the app on state-owned devices, and Tennessee and Virginia are considering similar measures.
The app is also banned on devices owned by the U.S. military.
TikTok officials have said the concerns are overblown and that the company protects the data of American users.
"We are always happy to meet with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices," TikTok spokesman Jamal Brown told the Associated Press last week. "We 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."