TikTok banned from specific devices in New York City
New York City took a step on Wednesday to prohibit the use of TikTok, the popular social media platform owned by a Chinese company, on government devices. This move aligns with a growing trend seen in various states, corporations, and educational institutions, all of which have decided to disallow the use of TikTok due to concerns about national security arising from its parent company ByteDance’s suspected connections to the Chinese government.
TikTok, a platform enabling users to craft and share short videos, quickly rose to prominence after its launch in 2016, overshadowing competitors like Snapchat and Instagram. Despite its initial success, recent years have witnessed increased efforts by corporations, states, as well as public and private universities, to ban the platform. The decision to ban TikTok is driven by a range of apprehensions, including alleged instances of Chinese surveillance and associations with cyberbullying.
Notably, an investigation by Forbes in October 2022 revealed ByteDance’s intentions to track the locations of U.S. users, including individuals affiliated with Forbes, through TikTok data. Additionally, an August 2022 report indicated that numerous employees at TikTok and ByteDance had prior affiliations with Chinese state media outlets.
In Montana, legislators passed a bill that constitutes the most stringent state-level prohibition of TikTok. This bill, signed into law on May 17 by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte, has been celebrated as a means to safeguard the personal and private information of Montanans from potential interference by the Chinese Communist Party. However, implementation of this ban remains uncertain due to challenges surrounding the identification of TikTok users’ concealed locations and ongoing legal disputes.
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