New York City on Wednesday banned TikTok On Government Devices Over Security Concerns, joining several U.S. cities and states that have put such restrictions on the short video-sharing app used by more than 150 million Americans. The city’s Cyber Command said the app “posed a security threat to the City’s technical networks.” New York agencies have 30 days to remove the app from their devices. After that, employees will no longer have access to the app or its website on city-owned devices and networks.
The move comes as TikTok and parent company ByteDance face growing calls from U.S. lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence and the company’s use of user data. TikTok has pushed back on the accusations, arguing that it does not share data with the Chinese government and that its practices are no different than those of other social media apps. CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress earlier this month.
Still, skeptics remain. Caitlin Chin, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says that while the U.S. has a culture of free speech, it also has laws and regulations limiting what kinds of speech can be disseminated to prevent things like physical harm, fraud, copyright infringement or child exploitation. “There’s a lot of debate in the world about privacy and free speech, but we don’t have to accept the idea that every piece of content is going to be available for anyone who wants it,” she says.
Amid the controversies, TikTok has been working to show more transparency about what it does with user data. In addition to allowing users to opt in for more detailed privacy settings, the company has promised to build a facility in the U.S. where it will store all American user data. That project, dubbed Project Texas, is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok, told CNBC that he hopes lawmakers will focus on efforts to address issues such as data security and privacy instead of trying to ban specific services. He adds that banning a single app would not solve the problems lawmakers are concerned about and may make Americans less safe.
Several congressional committees are examining China’s digital influence operations, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed a bill called the Deterring America’s Technology Adversaries Act. The measure is awaiting consideration by the full House of Representatives.
Despite the political push to ban TikTok, many Democrats say they do not understand how central the app is to the lives of a younger generation of voters that has primarily embraced progressive activism. In the midterm elections, members of Gen Z — the teens and 20-somethings born after 1996 — turned out in more significant numbers than expected, helping to save the Democratic Party from a catastrophic defeat. Some of those lawmakers have started to notice the app’s importance and role in their constituents’ lives.
