US’s Kentucky bans TikTok from government-owned gadgets

US’s Kentucky has banned Chinese brief video app TikTok from government-owned gadgets.

Washington,UPDATED: Jan 14, 2023 07:11 IST

Calls to ban TikTok from authorities gadgets gained steam after U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned in November it poses nationwide safety dangers. (Representative picture)

By Reuters: Kentucky is becoming a member of greater than 20 U.S. states in banning the favored video app TikTok on authorities gadgets, citing cybersecurity issues.

The state mentioned it had up to date its worker handbook to bar state staff from utilizing government-managed gadgets to entry the Chinese-owned app “other than for a law enforcement purpose.” On Thursday, the governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina signed orders banning TikTok on authorities gadgets. Ohio, New Jersey and Arkansas additionally took related actions earlier this week.

Some states have gone farther than focusing on TikTok. New Jersey and Wisconsin for instance additionally banned distributors, services and products from different Chinese firms, together with Huawei Technologies, Hikvision, Tencent Holdings- the proprietor of WeChat, ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) in addition to Russian-based Kaspersky Lab.

TikTok mentioned it was “disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok.”

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Most of the states thus far to behave have Republican governors, however Wisconsin, North Carolina and Kentucky all have Democratic governors.

Calls to ban TikTok from authorities gadgets gained steam after U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray mentioned in November it poses nationwide safety dangers.

Wray flagged the menace that the Chinese authorities might harness the app to affect customers or management their gadgets.

For three years, TikTok – which has greater than 100 million customers – has been in search of to guarantee Washington that the private knowledge of U.S. residents can’t be accessed and its content material can’t be manipulated by China’s Communist Party or another entity beneath Beijing’s affect.

Last month, President Joe Biden signed into legislation a authorities funding invoice that included a ban on federal staff from utilizing or downloading TikTok on government-owned gadgets.

The legislation offers the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 60 days “to develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal” of TikTok from federal gadgets.

Published On:

Jan 14, 2023