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 considers banning TikTok on federal devices as a part of its 

, at least 16 Republican governors have recently taken that step at the state level.

, which covers all state devices. So has the Florida Department of Financial Services. 

In some of these cases, new restrictions go beyond TikTok and also forbid other Chinese- and Russian-owned platforms. But all of the governors give similar reasons for their actions: concerns about data privacy and surveillance.

"South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence-gathering operations of nations who hate us," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a news release at the end of November that kicked off the recent wave of bans. "The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform," she continued.

Many governors cite FBI Director Christopher Wray's testimony 

 to Congress this fall as driving their decisions.

"The director of the FBI recently warned that the Chinese government can control TikTok's content algorithm, allowing it to perpetrate influence operations within the United States," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in a 

 to the lieutenant governor and state House speaker announcing that state's ban.

Part of that concern is a 2017 law passed in China

requires organizations and citizens to support national intelligence gathering. This summer, 

 reported that engineers at TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, were accessing U.S. user data in China, something the company later confirmed 

While at the federal level, efforts to block TikTok on government computers are progressing with bipartisan support, at the state level the GOP leads the charge.

"It's really important to establishing a Republican brand. A central tenet of what unites Republicans now is taking a strong stance [and] standing up to China," says Thad Kousser, professor of political science at U.C. San Diego.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order 

 TikTok within the United States. TikTok sued, and the ban was never enforced.

In 2021, TikTok announced it had reached 

. In the U.S., two-thirds of all teens say they use it, according to the Pew Research Center.

As a result, some government agencies turned to the platform to spread their messages. NPR found examples of state government agencies on TikTok, ranging from the 

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

Some of the bans also apply to state university systems, which may be using the app for recruiting. 

As a result of its ban, Idaho just announced no one will be able to use TikTok over the Wi-Fi connections at its

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told NPR the company is "disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states."

 to try to "meaningfully address" security concerns. The company is currently negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) over the

Business and Economic News

Media

Politics and Government News

Laura Benshoff

Author

At least 16 states have banned TikTok on some or all government computers and phones. All are led by GOP governors.

As more GOP governors race to ban TikTok on state devices, a federal ban looms

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