Calls to ban TikTok from government devices gained steam after U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray said
In November it poses national security risks.
New Jersey and Ohio said on Monday they were joining other states in
Banning use of the popular video app TikTok on government-owned and managed devices.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said in addition to
Banning the short-video app owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance from state device
He also was banning software vendors, products, and
services from more than a dozen vendors including Huawei, Hikvision, Tencent, ZTE and Kaspersky Lab.
Murphy’s office said “there have been national security concerns about user data the Chinese government might require ByteDance to provide.”
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, said in his order “these surreptitious data privacy and
Cybersecurity practices pose national and local security and cybersecurity threats to users of these
Applications and platforms and the devices storing the applications and platforms.”