New York City is joining dozens of states and the federal government in banning TikTok from city-owned devices, the Verge reported. Agencies will have to remove the app within the next 30 days but the ban goes into effect immediately.
“While social media is great at connecting New Yorkers with one another and the city, we have to ensure we are always using these platforms in a secure manner,” a New York City Hall spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. “NYC Cyber Command regularly explores and advances proactive measures to keep New Yorkers’ data safe.”
In an NYC Cyber Command review seen by The Verge, a city official found that TikTok “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks,” and, in response, banned city employees from downloading or using the app on city-owned devices. The NYC Cyber Command did not immediately respond to a request for information from Mashable.
This comes as TikTok faces increasing limits and bans in the U.S. and globally. The app is banned on federal government devices, many universities have banned TikTok on institutional wifi and devices, and dozens of countries have banned the app.
The wave of bans comes after TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, participated in some unsettling high-tech surveillance on journalists. They’re also a response to TikTok’s ability to share data with the Chinese government. Experts don’t all agree on the depth of the Chinese government’s involvement, but the app is certainly threatening America’s dominance over tech, and some lawmakers believe that TikTok is being used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans.
It begs a lot of questions but, for me, this specific NYC ban makes me curious: How many people in non-social media marketing roles are actually downloading TikTok on their work phones? Seems like a weird thing to do!
