CNN Enterprise
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South Dakota’s governor signed an government order on Tuesday banning state businesses, staff and contractors from accessing TikTok on authorities units, citing “the rising nationwide safety risk” posed by the Chinese language-owned social media platform.
“South Dakota may have no half within the intelligence gathering operations of countries who hate us,” Gov. Kristi Noem mentioned in a press launch. “The Chinese language Communist Occasion makes use of data that it gathers on TikTok to govern the American folks, and so they collect knowledge off the units that entry the platform.”
The order goes into impact instantly.
It’s unclear if many, or any, state staff have been actively utilizing TikTok on state-owned units. However with the transfer, Noem is the newest lawmaker to induce for more durable motion to be taken towards the favored short-form video app, probably scoring some political factors within the course of.
There was renewed criticism of TikTok this yr, stemming from a Buzzfeed Information report in June that mentioned some US consumer knowledge has been repeatedly accessed from China. The reporting cited leaked audio recordings of dozens of inner TikTok conferences, together with one the place a TikTok worker allegedly mentioned, “Every part is seen in China.”
In a response to the report, TikTok beforehand mentioned it “has persistently maintained that our engineers in areas outdoors of the US, together with China, might be granted entry to US consumer knowledge on an as-needed foundation below these strict controls.” A TikTok government testified earlier than a Senate panel final yr that it doesn’t share data with the Chinese language authorities and {that a} US-based safety group decides who can entry US consumer knowledge from China.
“Due to our critical responsibility to guard the non-public knowledge of South Dakota residents, we should take this motion instantly,” Noem mentioned. “I hope different states will comply with South Dakota’s lead, and Congress ought to take broader motion, as properly.”
– CNN’s Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.