(The Center Square) – Alabama is joining other states in banning TikTok from state devices and the state’s computer network.
Gov. Kay Ivey issued a memorandum Tuesday alerting all state agency department leads in a cyber security action to protect the state and its residents’ sensitive data from Chinese infiltration activities.
“Protecting the state of Alabama and our citizens’ right to privacy is a must, and I surely don’t take a security threat from China lightly,” Ivey said in a release. “After we discussed this with our OIT secretary, I came to the no-brainer decision to ban the use of the TikTok app on our state devices and network. Look, I’m no TikTok user, but the evidence speaks for itself, and I want to make sure I’m doing everything we can as a state to stand against this growing security risk.”
Alabama joins Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, Texas, and Maryland in banning the social media platform, while Arkansas plans to institute legislation banning the site and Indiana has filed a lawsuit against the company.
According to the memo, the effort is “vital to ensuring the safety and success” of the state, and computer devices and networks in use by state government are housing a wealth of sensitive data of its residents.
Recently, Ivey wrote in the memo, national security officials have issued warnings of potential growing threats by the video-sharing app, which is owned by a Chinese company. The company is then subject to a set of Chinese laws that enable data to be shared with the country’s Communist Party.
According to the memo, the social media giant “harvests vast amounts of data” from users and has “no legitimate connection” to the app's design.
Effective Tuesday, the state is working to update policies that prevent the app from accessing the state’s network and devices, with the exception of law enforcement and other governmental uses of the platform.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News