This illustration picture taken on May 27, 2020 in Paris shows the logo of the social network application Tik Tok on the screen of a phone. (Photo by MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)
OAN’s Elizabeth Volberding
6:25 PM – Friday, August 18, 2023
New York City has been the most recent government entity to join the banning of TikTok, on all
devices owned by the city. The Chinese owned company was prohibited from all government
devices due to a security threat to the city’s technical networks.
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On Thursday, a statement that was sent by a New York City Hall spokesperson confirmed that
agencies must remove the social media application within the next 30 days in order to protect
data and avoid any security risks.
A representative for the NYC mayor’s office spoke out in a statement to The Verge, which first
announced the prohibition.
“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,” the representative said.
“NYC Cyber Command regularly explores and advances proactive measures to keep New
Yorkers’ data safe,” it continued.
NYC’s TikTok government accounts, such as the city’s sanitation department and the police
department, have deactivated their postings on the video-sharing application. The city
sanitation department’s TikTok account, which has over 47,000 followers, mentioned in its bio
that the account “was operated by NYC until August 2023” and said that it is “no longer
monitored.”
There have been other states across the U.S. that have joined in on the suspension of the app
on all government-owned devices. Montana was the first state to do so. The Montana state
governor, Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) signed a bill which proclaimed that he wanted to protect
residents’ private information from being compromised. Montana’s banning of TikTok will go
into effect beginning on January 1st, 2024.
Additionally, Maryland banned the platforms’ use in December of 2022. The Treasure State
banned China and Russia-based platforms in the state’s executive branch. Other countries,
such as New Zealand and Canada, took part in precautionary measures in suspending TikTok
earlier this year, attributing privacy and data concerns for users as the reason.
TikTok did not directly respond to requests for comments on the situation. However, the video
entertainment app’s team has maintained the statement that it is independent of China and that
every user’s data in the U.S. remains secured.
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