Washington, D.C. state in the USA might ban the use of the Chinese social media app TikTok over national security concerns. Some of the U.S. states have already restricted or banned the app completely.
USA States vs TikTok
20 out of 50 USA states have restricted or banned the use of TikTok over national security concerns, and the majority of them are enforced in Republican-led states. This becomes a serious concern for small business owners and influencers among the 130 Million U.S. users. Let’s check out the list of state-wise TikTok restrictions.
| Sr. Number | US State Ban | Details |
| 1. | Texas | Texas Governor Greg Abbott banned TikTok on all state devices. He further directed the Department of Information Technology and the Department of Public Safety to develop a plan for other state agencies. |
| 2. | Alabama | Alabama governor Kay Ivey requested the state’s Department of Information Technology to ban TikTok from IT networks and IT devices. |
| 3. | Georgia | Georgia governor Brian Kemp directed the state’s agency head to ban several apps including TikTok, WeChat, and Telegram over security threats. |
| 4. | Idaho | Idaho governor Brad Little banned state officials from downloading to accessing the app through state-issued devices and blocked access on all state networks. |
| 5. | Iowa | Iowa state governor Kim Reynolds prohibited the use of TikTok on all state-owned devices. |
| 6. | Louisiana | Louisiana’s secretary of state Kyle Ardoin banned the app on devices issued by his agency and urged for a state-wide ban. |
| 7. | West Virginia | West Virginia’s auditor JB McCuskey banned the app for all networks and devices associated with the Audit office. |
| 8. | Montana | Montana’s governor Greg Gianforte banned the app from all state-issued devices and for third-party access on behalf of the state. |
| 9. | Virginia | Virginia’s governor Glenn Youngkin banned all apps by Tencent Holdings and ByteDance for all devices. |
| 10. | New Hampshire | New Hampshire’s governor Chris Sununu banned several Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat, and QQ Wallet. |
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Lawsuit against TikTok
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita announced lawsuits filed against TikTok. One of them is against misleading advertising luring children to download the app and another for the deceptive portrayal of its data-sharing policies. Following this, more states have banned TikTok for all state-issued networks, which are listed below:
- North Dakota
- Utah
- Nebraska
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
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TikTok’s Reaction
A bill to completely ban TikTok from US states has been submitted for approval by President Biden. Previously, in 2020 former President Trump made many failed attempts to ban new users from joining TikTok which were deemed against freedom of speech by the court.
- In response to this, a spokesperson from TikTok said to Government Technology that all the user data is stored in centers of Virginia and Singapore and they are planning to completely shift to USA cloud service.
- They also shared their disappointment with so many states jumping on the bandwagon to create policies based on non-factual and politically charged opinions about the app, Unfortunately, many state agencies, offices, and universities will no longer be able to use the app to build communities and connect.
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We shall know more about the bans within this week as the bill is discussed, however, a complete ban across the nation seems unlikely due to it challenging the rights of free speech. For more latest updates related to entertainment, sports, and gaming follow Spiel Times.
SOURCES: Al Jazeera, Government Technology
