United States: Several governments ban the use of TikTok in state agencies

Maryland to ban TikTok and some other platforms based in china and russia used in the state executive branch, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday, seeking to do so eliminate cyber security risks presented by these platforms.

The Republican governor announced an emergency cybersecurity directive to ban the use of the platforms, arguing they could be implicated in cyber espionage, government surveillance, and inappropriate harvesting of sensitive personal data.

“There may be no greater threat to our personal and national security than the cyber vulnerabilities that underpin our daily lives,” Hogan said in a statement. “To further protect our systems, we are issuing this emergency guidance against actors and foreign organizations that They try to weaken and divide us.”

The Maryland directive was issued a week after the governor of South DakotaKristi Noem, banned state employees and contractors from accessing TikTok on state-owned devices, given her ties to China.

For his part, the Governor of South CarolinaHenry McMaster, on Monday asked the State Department of Administration to ban the use of TikTok on all state-owned devices it operates.

While the governor of NebraskaPete Ricketts, blocked TikTok on state electronic devices in August 2020.

The United States Armed Forces they also banned the app on military devices.

TikTok, “a risk not worth taking”

“It’s a risk that most governments are starting to realize isn’t worth taking,” said Holden Triplett, co-founder of Trenchcoat Advisors and a former FBI official who worked in Beijing and in counterintelligence.

Although they have debated whether the Chinese government is active data collection of TikTok, Triplett said the app represents a clear vulnerability.

Since ByteDance, which owns TikTok, is a Chinese company, I would be obliged to satisfy every possible request by China’s security and intelligence services to hand over the data, which could include employee locations and contacts, he said.

For all this, ByteDance moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.

TikTok struggled to detect ads with incorrect information about Elections in the United Statesaccording to a recent report by the nonprofit Global Witness and the Cybersecurity for Democracy team at New York University.

However, TikTok’s Jamal Brown said the concerns behind the bans “are fueled by misinformation about our company.”

“We are always happy to meet with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices,” Brown said.

And I add: “we are disappointed that many state agencies, offices and universities that use TikTok to build communities and connect with citizens will no longer have access to our platform.”

This was assured in this regard by the director of operations of TikTok, Vanessa Pappas, based in Los Angeles the company protects all information of American users and that Chinese government officials do not have access to them.

With information from agencies.

SL