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GOP-Led States Ban TikTok On Government Devices (axios.com) 84

Posted by BeauHD from the nation-security-risks dept.
A growing number of GOP-led states are barring state employees and contractors from using TikTok on government-issued devices as the FBI warns of possible threats to national security posed by the Chinese-owned social media platform. Texas became the latest to do so on Wednesday, joining South Dakota, South Carolina and Maryland, all of which banned the app on government devices in the past week. Wisconsin Republicans are urging their Democratic governor to do the same. Axios reports: "[U]nder China's 2017 National Intelligence Law, all businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work including data sharing, and TikTok's algorithm has already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party," Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a letter to state officials Wednesday.

"There may be no greater threat to our personal safety and our national security than the cyber vulnerabilities that support our daily lives," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, whose directive also banned certain Russia-based platforms, said in a statement.

"Protecting our State's critical cyber infrastructure from foreign and domestic threats is key to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our citizens and businesses," South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster wrote in a letter requesting that the state's Department of Administration block access to the app.

"South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release.
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GOP-Led States Ban TikTok On Government Devices More

GOP-Led States Ban TikTok On Government Devices

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  • What about the state employees whose job it is to do social media? Like it or not, social media is part of the modern workplace. And, if you want to reach younger people, TikTok is one obvious way to do so.

    If all you care about are the middle aged and elderly, then sure - stick with Facebook.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      There really is no place for state employees on social media outside of law enforcement (stings and the like). The same is really true for federal agencies.

      But tiktok is hardly the only social media game in town nor does it offer anything particularly unique or special. Really this shouldn't be limited to state/fed employees... TikTok shouldn't be permitted to do business in the US or any other sane country that cares about its citizens.

      • There are many reasons for government on social media. Two categories for it:
        -Government run accounts: get information out to people easily (transit agencies on delays, or there's new procedures for license renewal, parks/beaches closing due to weather, etc) and in a manner that allows for feedback; also users can report problems and it can get to someone in the agency easily - it's like a free no-frills ticketing system, with the added benefit of "customers" (taxpayers) self-grouping their issues under one

        • There are many reasons for government on social media. Two categories for it: -Government run accounts: get information out to people easily (transit agencies on delays, or there's new procedures for license renewal, parks/beaches closing due to weather, etc) and in a manner that allows for feedback; also users can report problems and it can get to someone in the agency easily - it's like a free no-frills ticketing system, with the added benefit of "customers" (taxpayers) self-grouping their issues under on

          • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • I look at it the other way - interacting via social media is so standard and easy, it is *better* than alternative ways such as a contact form or email. The two most useful are Twitter and Youtube - I follow all the government agencies and politicians that pertain to me, and can easily interact with them/their staff when needed. Initially that was all I had a Twitter account for.

            As for Youtube - the NY Senate puts all their hearings on Youtube for anyone to watch. State agencies put out instructional / publ

            • I look at it the other way - interacting via social media is so standard and easy, it is *better* than alternative ways such as a contact form or email. The two most useful are Twitter and Youtube - I follow all the government agencies and politicians that pertain to me, and can easily interact with them/their staff when needed. Initially that was all I had a Twitter account for.

              I've never had social media accounts ever....no twitter, no FB, etc.

              LOL, I guess these days that likely now makes me stand out o

      • If you want to communicate a message to young people - like about the dangers of tobacco products for children, or about how to register to vote when you turn 18, or about changes to driver licenses laws, or about the HPV vaccine - social media is probably your only option, and TikTok is where young people hang out nowadays. I suppose you could run these campaigns from your personal phone and ask to be reimbursed for a portion of the cost of running this from your personal phone?
      • State and Federal agencies all over the US have a social media presence across multiple platforms. There are employees who get paid to develop content and manage information shared on those platforms.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ksw_92 ( 5249207 )

      I'm sure there'll be carve-outs for PR flaks and the like. But...TikTok doesn't lend itself well to the reasoned dissemination of information so not sure how government agencies would be making use of the platform.

      "Company doesn't allow employee to do 'X' on company-owned device/network" hasn't been news for 20+ years. Not sure why this made it...oh, it's from Axios. 'Nuff said.

    • What about the state employees whose job it is to do social media? Like it or not, social media is part of the modern workplace. And, if you want to reach younger people, TikTok is one obvious way to do so.

      If all you care about are the middle aged and elderly, then sure - stick with Facebook.

      My first thought would be who cares about people who get their news from social media? Not sure government should pander to the lowest common denominator of citizen's intelligence. They should be working to help people up rather than dragging them down.

      But if they really must, then they should use heavily sandboxed VMs with no valuable information and where all traffic is captured and monitored, so government employees can talk to stupid people. And yeah, young people who get government news from TikT

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      They can just upload their videos to Pornhub. Like all the math lessons [nypost.com].

    • If you *have* to use Tik Tok for work, just do it on a desktop in a web browser. Then you aren't giving the app permissions to listen and record absolutely everything you do on your government-issued phone.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Working for the government... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Knightman ( 142928 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2022 @05:32PM (#63111954)

    ...also means that you follow the rules in how the government's property is used. The rules and the reasons behind them may seem silly to some, but that is generally true for a fair bit of things the government and the politicians do which many see as purely performative.

    I think this is mostly a non-story but I guess we'll see some partisan bickering and hot air about it...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      I think more than anything it is another story to help remind people that anyone using TikTok has a few screws loose in the judgement department.

      Sadly, if the last 20 years or so have taught us anything it is that humans are idiots will ignore serious security and privacy concerns entirely in favor of nifty image filters, snazzy new emoji integration or slightly more popular video feeds. Sad, pathetic and an indication that ET avoids us for good cause? Yes, all that, but still true.

    • It is purely performative and the odd bit to me is how this article is couching the issue in terms of America partisan politics. Both sides of your political spectrum agree on the need to create enemies, and from what I can see they have agreed to make China the latest one.
      Weirdly, the shareholders of the vast American based corporation I work for would probably be very unhappy if anything happened to the billions of dollars worth of assets they own in China, so the chances of anything really serious happ

  • Well ... (Score:1, Troll)

    by Freischutz ( 4776131 )

    GOP-Led States Ban TikTok On Government Devices

    Well, that's western civilisation saved from certain destruction. All we need now is a mandatory $8 Twitter subscription for all US citizens now that Elon's joined the GOP tribe and we're unassailable.

  • If anything they should not be able to access other than official and specific allow-listed sites.

    Everyone with a job owns a phone so why is this news?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cpurdy ( 4838085 )

      Everyone with a job owns a phone so why is this news?

      Performative politics. Politics as entertainment. It's a big business in the USA.

  • For once (Score:3)

    by Subsentient ( 6901388 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2022 @06:04PM (#63112044)
    For once, I agree with the GOP on something. TikTok is terrifying. Definitely keep that shit away from government business.

    • For once, I agree with the GOP on something

      But it's not just the GOP. There are similar measures moving though several States. Just a lot of GOP led States don't have a lot of "red tape" to cut. But TikTok on State employee devices is pretty universally understood as bad.

      It's very weird that the title is written to make it seem Democrats are not also hating on TikTok.

  • GOP (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by backslashdot ( 95548 )

    The party of censorship and restriction.

  • Why do government owned devices need apps installed beyond those that are required to perform government functions? Are folks using them for personal use too?

    • My Facebook phone is pretty locked down. I'm pretty sure I couldn't install Tik Tok on it even if I wanted to. Agreed that all company owned or government owned devices shouldn't allow software downloads from any server not controlled by that company or government. If Facebook wants to infect my Facebook phone with Facebook spyware, that's their right. (My Facebook laptop has this annoying spyware that checks every password I type in to any site, compares it to my Facebook password, and makes me change my F

    • Why do government owned devices need apps installed beyond those that are required to perform government functions? Are folks using them for personal use too?

      Certainly a good argument for having a Mobile Device Management solution for all your internally managed hardware, and why BYOD comes with a much greater corporate risk profile.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    The Chinese kids get a very different, constructive version of TikTok and it's limited to 40minutes/day The western kids have no time limits and the videos are like a constant sugar rush for the mind.

  • As much as I hate to agree with the conservatives, they are absolutely correct about this one. Any hardware or software controlled by China should be considered a potential security threat. Personally, I don't worry about it, but only because I don't actually have any useful information on my phone.

  • Xenophobia (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SoftwareArtist ( 1472499 )

    "South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release.

    They just couldn't resist slipping in some xenophobia and bigotry there. No, China does not "hate" us, just as we don't hate them. Well, maybe Kristi Noem does. I don't know about that. But any American who isn't a bigot does not hate China, and anyone in China who isn't a bigot doesn't hate America. We're economic and political rivals, which is something entirely different. You can compete with someone without hating them. Really.

    In this case, it's not even like I disagree with the policy. There ar

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by iamacat ( 583406 )

      You are confusing people and the government. It's impossible to embrace both China's authoritarian system and the US individualistic democratic republic as equally acceptable futures for humanity. Once you pick which one you believe in, logically you must strive for the other one to vanish or be made irrelevant over time. This does not mean hating people who live under the opposing system and in fact suffer from it the most. It does mean removing tools the regime might use to strengthen itself at our expen

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      "South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us," South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said in a press release.

      They just couldn't resist slipping in some xenophobia and bigotry there. No, China does not "hate" us, just as we don't hate them. Well, maybe Kristi Noem does. I don't know about that. But any American who isn't a bigot does not hate China, and anyone in China who isn't a bigot doesn't hate America. We're economic and political rivals, which is something entirely different. You can compete with someone without hating them. Really.

      In this case, it's not even like I disagree with the policy. There are reasonable arguments for not wanting Chinese controlled software on government devices. But couldn't they support a reasonable policy without resorting to bigotry to promote it?

      Ordinarily I'd agree that it's their gaff, their rules. I mean a private company can tell me I'm not allowed to have social media apps on my work equipment, they can even say I can't have specific applications or go to specific websites even if there is an open social media policy... A private company even gets to limit what I'm allowed to say outside of work on private equipment, on private accounts if it's information I'm only privy to by working for the company. All perfectly legal and mostly fine (I'm n

  • Ban IoT control apps too (Score:4, Informative)

    by laughingskeptic ( 1004414 ) on Wednesday December 07, 2022 @08:30PM (#63112330)
    Most IoT control apps talk to China. If you don't want to be tracked by China in additional to Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, ... don't put IoT apps on your phone.
  • More generally, why are devices with sensitive security implications even accessible to public servers?
  • There should be a whitelist of approved apps for government issued devices on the basis that they need to be secured and they are dealing with private and potentially sensitive / secret information. So whitelists, VPNs, certificates, 2FA, auditing / security scans and all that good stuff. That is regardless of someone's government role but obviously different branches might be more stringent than others.

    If someone wants TikTok they can install it on their own phones that are not sharing data or informatio

  • I guess we won't really know how much of a threat Tic Tok is until Elon Musk buys it and exposes the treachery, deceit and FBI collusion.

  • There should be no social networking aps, nor twatter, nor facebook on any government device. You are getting paid to work.

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