Staff of US government agencies in Texas will no longer be allowed to download and use the Chinese social media app TikTok on devices provided by their employer, Governor Greg Abbott announced on Wednesday.
Explaining the ban, he cited allegations that Beijing might be using the platform to secretly access sensitive information, something China has repeatedly denied.
Also on Wednesday, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued TikTok, claiming it has misled users over the Chinese government’s capacity to access their data.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced a similar ban on Tuesday, affecting TikTok along with Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE.
In mid-November, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray for what she described as an attempt to discredit a Chinese tech giant which is competing with Western social media platforms.
The remark came after Wray said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing that his agency does have national security concerns about TikTok.
The US intelligence community has long suspected TikTok of being an espionage tool used by the Chinese government. The Trump administration even threatened to ban the app in the USA.
ByteDance, the company which owns the platform, insists that TikTok stores the data of US users outside of China. It also denies working for Beijing.
RT. com / ABC Flash Point Global Political Blog News 2022.
The self proclaimed “ free and open market, human rights and equality, home of the brave and freedom of speech and democracy “ all but lies.
How does a state ban an app? What kind of stupid political stunt is this? Not saying I like TikDick, but this is ridiculous. How is the state gov going to ban this app? Tons of redirecting IP addresses to down load this and use it. How is Texas going to uphold their stupid law? LOL