Spencer Cox, the Republican Governor of Utah, put out an executive order effective Monday that wholesale bans the use of TikTok from any state-owned devices, highlighting “security threats by China and China-based entities.”
“China’s access to data collected by TikTok presents a threat to our cybersecurity,” stated Cox. “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.”
Our administration takes security threats by China and China-based entities seriously. This is why we’re banning TikTok on all state-owned devices effective immediately. Read more here: https://t.co/Bca3HVya5v pic.twitter.com/Zh1CuEYxnD
— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) December 12, 2022
TikTok has well over 100 million users within the United States. ByteDance, a China-based company, owns the social media platform.
The laws of the communist country allow the government to make any company operating in their country hand over their data, which could include information taken from devices issued by the state of Utah, exclaimed Cox.
This decision sets Utah up on the ever-growing list of Republican-led states to set up laws in a similar manner.
This past Thursday, Kevin Stitt, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma, put forth an executive order which also banned TikTok from all state devices.
“Maintaining the cybersecurity of state government is necessary to continue to serve and protect Oklahoma citizens and we will not participate in helping the Chinese Communist Party gain access to government information,” he stated in a release.
On Wednesday, Texas issued a declaration marking itself as the largest state to outright ban the app, with the state’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott denouncing TikTok.
“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” he explained in a release.
Additionally, Maryland Republican Governor Larry Hogan announced his own ban on TikTok from government devices for the state.
“There may be no greater threat to our personal safety and our national security than the cyber vulnerabilities that support our daily lives,” stated Hogan.
This last Monday, Henry McMaster, the Republican Governor of South Carolina, put out his own executive order which also banned TikTok from all government devices.
It was taken a step further in South Dakora when Republican Governor Kristi Noem initiated a similar executive order that escalated it to a criminal offense to download the app to a state device.
The various concerns about TikTok go back quite a few years. Back in 2020, Nebraska Republican Governor Pete Ricketts was the first to put forth an executive order of this kind seeking to ban the app from state electronic devices.
Shortly after that, then-President Donald Trump officiated his own executive order to ban the use of TikTok across the country. However, the policy was never put into practice, as Old Uncle Joe rushed to counteract the order in June of 2021.
