TikTok Is Now Banned From Being Used On US Government-Owned Devices

TikTok is a recommendation algorithm that is considered dangerous for the US government. (photo: unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Governor of South Dakota, United States (US) State, Kristi Noem asked his employees, agencies and contractors not to download and use TikTok on state-owned devices.

In his announcement, Noem stated he was concerned about security issues in which the Chinese Communist Party (PKC) allegedly used the popular social media app to collect information from US users, and use it to manipulate them.

The order is currently in effect and also prohibits government employees from visiting TikTok websites through office device browsers.

"South Dakota will not take part in intelligence gathering operations of countries that hate us," Noem said as quoted by Engadget, Thursday, December 1.

"The Chinese Communist Party uses the information it collects on TikTok to manipulate Americans, and they collect data from devices accessing the platform."

Other US governments are also concerned about the security of the Chinese ByteDance application. Over the past few years, it is believed the Chinese government used it to collect data.

In 2020, former US President Donald Trump while in office tried to block TikTok and WeChat, although this effort was fruitless. Nearly the entire US military has also banned the app on devices issued by the government, calling TikTok a cyber security threat.

However, TikTok CEO Shou Zi law assured the company to work with Oracle to protect its US user data with strong and independent scrutiny.

He also said that TikTok is working to fully rotate into the Oracle cloud server in the US in order to remove US user data from its own system.

Unfortunately, Chew's statement does not guarantee enough to ease officials' fears. Earlier this month alone, FBI Director Chris Wray warned US lawmakers that the Chinese government could use TikTok to launch influence operations through its recommendation algorithms.