TikTok Faces U.S. Clampdowns After South Dakota Restrictions

South Dakota is the second state to take such motion. Nebraska did so in 2020, at a time when TikTok was much less widespread than it’s in the present day. Others are immediately following swimsuit in fast succession.

On Monday, South Carolina’s Republican governor,

Henry McMaster,

stated he requested that the state’s division of administration take away TikTok from authorities gadgets and block the positioning. The identical day, lawmakers in Arkansas filed laws for the approaching 2023 session that will ban entry to TikTok from state-owned or state-leased gadgets.

Maryland Gov.

Larry Hogan,

additionally a Republican, issued Tuesday what he referred to as an emergency cybersecurity directive to ban the usage of sure Chinese language—and Russian—developed expertise, together with TikTok, within the state’s govt department. The directive orders companies to take away the prohibited expertise from state networks and implement measures to stop entry to the providers from the state community.

These measures all cease in need of prohibiting all residents from utilizing the favored app. State workers in all of those instances can nonetheless use TikTok on private gadgets. However the state-level strikes mirror rising bipartisan worries in Washington, the place lawmakers are debating a nationwide ban.

Leaders from each events have not too long ago ratched up issues concerning the Chinese language authorities’s potential to order TikTok to gather knowledge on American customers, and to affect public discourse by controlling what individuals watch on the app. TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., has stated it has by no means acquired such requests and wouldn’t comply if requested.

Former President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok throughout his administration if it wasn’t introduced underneath U.S. possession. President Biden dropped that after the motion was efficiently challenged in courtroom. The Biden administration is now negotiating with TikTok over a deal aimed toward assuaging national-security issues.

In the meantime, Sen.

Marco Rubio

(R., Fla.) and different distinguished Republicans in Washington have come out publicly in assist of a national ban. Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) might assist a ban too, however hasn’t determined, his spokeswoman stated. A number of main lawmakers are threatening hearings over the matter within the Republican-held Home subsequent yr.

In South Dakota, the ban has sown confusion and a few consternation. Some state workers say it’s unclear if they’ll run state-affiliated TikTok accounts from private gadgets.

The order bans the usage of TikTok on “state-owned or state-leased gear,” particularly prohibiting the app from being downloaded on such gadgets. It’s much less clear if the ban consists of with the ability to entry TikTok on private telephones via web suppliers utilized in public areas like state-funded universities. As an illustration, can a scholar use TikTok on their cellphone whether it is linked to school Wi-Fi? And what if a scholar by chance connects to the community whereas utilizing the app, a possible downside as gadgets roam from mobile community to a Wi-Fi community and again.

The board that governs South Dakota’s six public universities plans to debate the governor’s TikTok order at a gathering on Thursday. The colleges use TikTok to advertise campus life and sports activities groups.

The app is one in all Landon DeBoer’s favourite methods of getting information concerning the College of South Dakota, the state’s flagship state faculty in Vermillion, about 260 miles from the capital, Pierre. The varsity’s official TikTok account is run by college students, who exhibit campus life with goofy movies.

One video that includes impromptu lightsaber duels racked up greater than two million hits. Mr. DeBoer, a 20-year-old junior, stated the TikTok account is nice for attracting future college students. “Most, if not all, of the scholars on campus watch” the account, he stated.

Ms. Noem didn’t reply to a request for remark. In issuing the chief order final Tuesday, she stated the state had the responsibility to guard the non-public knowledge of its residents and hoped that different states would observe its lead.

The College of South Dakota’s TikTok account has about 24,000 followers, greater than double its scholar inhabitants. A social-media analytics firm, RivalIQ, ranked USD’s TikTok account because the second most-engaging university-run TikTok presence, behind No. 1 Central Michigan College. RivalIQ stated USD stood out for participating with college students and creating whimsical moments round campus.

One in all Mr. DeBoer’s favourite movies contains a scholar asking an unsuspecting professor strolling on campus to carry a plastic lightsaber. The confused professor is immediately confronted by a hooded lightsaber-wielding scholar, Riley Riggs, who lets the professor win the sudden duel.

Mr. DeBoer stated that after Ms. Noem introduced her TikTok ban, he advised Mr. Riggs to avoid wasting these movies in case the college’s TikTok account is deleted. “You may get a job with that,” he stated.

The state’s TikTok order was a shock to the leaders of South Dakota Public Broadcasting, stated

Cara Hetland,

the group’s director of journalism content material. SDPB, which supplies TV and radio programming, had simply began its TikTok account round September to attempt to appeal to a youthful viewers, she stated.

The group’s senior managers mentioned what to do, she stated. It appeared clear-cut: The broadcaster’s workers are state workers who use state-owned gadgets. There was additionally one other issue within the choice: SDPB’s TikTok account hadn’t actually taken off.

“It’s a pick-your-battle sort of factor,” Ms. Hetland stated. “And this isn’t one I wish to choose for 48 followers.” The broadcaster deleted its TikTok account the day the order was introduced.

The South Dakota order impressed Rep.

Mike Gallagher

(R., Wis.) to ask Wisconsin Gov.

Tony Evers

to ban TikTok from the state’s authorities gadgets, Mr. Gallagher’s spokesman stated. In a letter despatched Tuesday and signed by different Wisconsin Republican congressmen, Mr. Gallagher additionally urged the Democratic governor to delete his TikTok account, which he has used for campaigning.

Arkansas lawmakers drafted a invoice on Monday for the 2023 legislative session to ban TikTok. And whereas the state’s GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson hasn’t made any strikes to ban the app, Governor-elect

Sarah Huckabee Sanders,

additionally a Republican, stated she would work to deal with what she referred to as the predatory actions of China.

“Every thing is on the desk,” she stated in an announcement to The Wall Avenue Journal. “Together with going after TikTok.”

Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com and Ben Kesling at ben.kesling@wsj.com