New York City has banned employees from using TikTok on all government devices over growing security concerns.
After receiving an alert last Thursday from NYC Cyber Command, the city’s task force against cyber threats, a city official agreed TikTok poses a “security risk to the city’s technical networks” and rolled out the ban, according to The Jerusalem Post. Staffers will have 30 days to remove the app.
New York City isn’t the only place that has banned the popular short-video app. TikTok can’t be used on most federal and government-issued devices and multiple states have issued their own restrictions due to its parent company’s connections to the Chinese government.
New York City-run TikTok accounts now say, “This account was operated by NYC until August 2023. It is no longer monitored” and recommends users follow their accounts on other platforms.
TikTok was not immediately available for comment.
The federal government has been trying to eliminate TikTok from government phones and devices for three years. Last December, the Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed and banned use of the app on federal computers and portable devices. It went into effect this year.
Since then, thirty-three states have TikTok bans in place, ranging from restricted use to banned from all devices, according to CNN Business. Nebraska banned the app in August 2022. South Dakota and Maryland passed anti-TikTok laws in December. The military put its own ban in place as well.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte went as far as to ban the app from his entire state. TikTok creators and members sued Montana, claiming the ban restricted freedom of speech rights. The legislation doesn’t specify other social media apps, just TikTok. The law is scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2024.
TikTok has been under scrutiny for security concerns for several years because of the concern that the parent company, Bytedance, could hand over data to the Chinese government. Although TikTok, a subsidiary of ByteDance, said the app’s U.S. user data isn’t based in China, legislation continues restricting access to avoid any potential security risks.