On Tuesday, Governor Kristi Noem (R-SC) signed an executive order prohibiting the use of the China-controlled app TikTok by state agencies, workers, and contractors using state devices due to national security concerns.
“South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us,” Governor Kristi Noem said in a statement.
“The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform.”
The order is effective immediately and covers all state workers, state agencies, commissions, authorities, and agents of the state, as well as any individuals or businesses that have contracts with the state.
The order prohibits any internet-connected state-owned or leased electronic device from installing or using the TikTok app or accessing the website.
“Because of our serious duty to protect the private data of South Dakota citizens, we must take this action immediately. I hope other states will follow South Dakota’s lead, and Congress should take broader action, as well,” Governor Noem continued.
Earlier this year, the head of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requested Apple and Google on Tuesday to remove TikTok from their app stores due to ‘serious national security threats’ posed by the said mobile app.
In a letter dated June 24, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores as it “harvests extensive amounts of personal and sensitive data” from its American users.
It is clear that TikTok poses an unacceptable national security risk due to its extensive data harvesting being combined with Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data,” Carr wrote in his letter.
TikTok is not just another video app.
That’s the sheep’s clothing.
It harvests swaths of sensitive data that new reports show are being accessed in Beijing.
I’ve called on @Apple & @Google to remove TikTok from their app stores for its pattern of surreptitious data practices. pic.twitter.com/Le01fBpNjn
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) June 28, 2022
Even Democrat Sen. Mark Warner has admitted that former President Donald Trump was right about TikTok being an “enormous threat.”
The senator told Bream, “as painful as it is for me to say, if Donald Trump was right and we could’ve taken action then, that’d have been a heckuva lot easier than trying to take action in November of 2022.”
Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner on TikTok: “I think Donald Trump was right. TikTok is an enormous threat.” pic.twitter.com/8g2fRwxrF7
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) November 20, 2022
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