Kentucky Joins Other US States States States, TikTok Intersection On Government Devices

The state of Kentucky prohibits TikTok on government devices. (photo: Doc. Pixabay)

Kentucky has finally joined more than 20 states in the US in banning popular TikTok video apps on government devices citing cybersecurity concerns.

The state authority said it had updated its employee holding book to prohibit state employees from using government-run devices to access Chinese-owned applications other than for law enforcement purposes.

On Thursday, January 12, the Governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina also signed an order banning TikTok on government devices. Ohio, New Jersey and Arkansas also took similar action earlier this week.

Several states have acted further in targeting TikTok. New Jersey and Wisconsin, for example, have also banned vendors, products, and services from other Chinese companies including Huawei Technologies, Hikvision, Tencent Holdings, as well as owners of WeChat, ZTE Corp, and also the Russia-based Kaspersky Lab.

TikTok said it was "disappointed that so many states are participating in politics to enforce policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their state and are based on baseless lies about TikTok."

Most states have by far Republican governors, but Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Kentucky all of its governors are from the Democratic Party.

Calls to ban TikTok from government devices are increasing after US FBI Director Christopher Wray said in November 2022 that TikTok poses a national security risk.

Wray stated that there was a threat that the Chinese government could use the app to influence users or control their devices.

For three years, TikTok, which has more than 100 million users worldwide, has tried to convince Washington that US citizen personal data is inaccessible and its content cannot be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party or any other entity under Beijing's influence.

Last month, US President Joe Biden signed a government funding bill law that included a ban on federal employees from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices.

The law provides the 60-day White House Management and Budget Office (OMB) "to develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal of" TikTok from federal devices.