Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota has joined a number of Republican governors in banning the popular social media app TikTok from devices used by the executive branch of the state government. They did so due to the platform’s Chinese ownership and growing national security concerns. Late on Tuesday, Burgum issued the executive order. It forbids accessing the TikTok website as well as downloading the app on devices that belong to the government or while connected to the state’s network.
“TikTok raises multiple flags in terms of the amount of data it collects and how that data may be shared with and used by the Chinese government,” Burgum said in a statement.
The platform, which is controlled by the Chinese corporation ByteDance, is allegedly posing cybersecurity dangers, according to the most recent state to make such claims, North Dakota.
TikTok and some other platforms with Chinese or Russian roots have been outlawed in the state’s executive branch of government, according to Republican governor of Maryland Larry Hogan. Furthermore, South Dakota’s Republican governor Kristi Noem previously forbade state workers and contractors from using TikTok on state-owned smartphones, citing the app’s connections to China.
Governor Henry McMaster, a Republican from South Carolina, requested last week that TikTok be removed from all state-owned devices from the Department of Administration, which oversees that department. Additionally, in August 2020, Republican governor of Nebraska Pete Ricketts stopped TikTok on government computers.
Republican members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation urged Democratic Governor Tony Evers last week to remove the video network TikTok from all state-owned devices, citing it as a national security risk. Additionally, the programme is not allowed on military smartphones according to the US armed forces.
(With inputs from agencies)
