Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin joined other states and the federal government in outlawing the use of the well-known video app on Thursday when he signed an order forbidding TikTok on government-owned and operated devices owing to cyber security concerns.
The Democratic governor announced that he was also prohibiting suppliers, goods, and services from nine firms, including Huawei Technologies, Hikvision, Tencent Holdings, ZTE Corporation, and Kaspersky Lab.
He also said that he was blocking TikTok, a Chinese company, from state-owned devices. "In the digital age, defending our state's technology and cybersecurity infrastructure and protecting digital privacy have to be a top priority for us as a state," Evers said.
TikTok has been prohibited on state-owned devices in more than 20 other states, including Ohio, New Jersey, and Arkansas earlier this week. TikTok said it was "disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok."
Republican governors have taken the lead in pushing for the removal of TikTok from state-owned devices, while several Democratic governors have lagged behind. After U.S. calls to block TikTok on government equipment gained traction In November, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that it presents concerns to national security. The possibility that the Chinese government could use the software to sway users or manage their devices was raised by Wray.
For the past three years, TikTok has worked to reassure Washington that the Chinese Communist Party or any other organization influenced by Beijing cannot access the personal information of American people or alter its content.
A government financing bill with a restriction on TikTok use and download for federal employees was signed into law by President Joe Biden last month. TikTok must be removed from federal devices within 60 days, according to the statute, which provides the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the authority.
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have both issued warnings that ByteDance Ltd., the owner of TikTok, may share user information with China's totalitarian government.
American officials are particularly concerned that the Chinese government may utilize TikTok to spread false material or narratives in favor of China. News stories from the previous year that a Chinese team had improperly accessed American data raised fears. TikTok users, two journalists included, as a part of a clandestine surveillance campaign to find the source of press leaks.
Additionally, there are worries that the corporation is violating strict European privacy laws by shipping vast amounts of customer data to China. Concerns regarding TikTok's content and potential harm to teenagers' mental health have also been raised.
