New York Metropolis has banned TikTok from all authorities gadgets. The directive issued on Wednesday requires metropolis companies to take away the ByteDance-owned social media app from their official gadgets inside 30 days, whereas new downloads of the app are banned instantly. Metropolis staff are additionally barred from accessing the video-sharing platform via its web site on city-owned cell phones, tablets, computer systems, and different devices.
The choice got here after NYC Cyber Command, which is a subset of the town’s Workplace of Expertise and Innovation and leads its cyber protection efforts, acknowledged that TikTok “posed a safety risk to the town’s technical networks.” In its directive, New York Metropolis cited US Workplace of Administration and Funds pointers encouraging authorities authorities to ban TikTok’s use on official gadgets. The town additionally talked about the same federal laws handed earlier this 12 months.
“Whereas social media is nice at connecting New Yorkers with each other and the town, now we have to make sure we’re all the time utilizing these platforms in a safe method,” a New York Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated in a press release to The Verge following the announcement of the TikTok ban. “NYC Cyber Command often explores and advances proactive measures to maintain New Yorkers’ information protected.”
A number of different US states have banned TikTok on authorities gadgets
New York Metropolis joins a number of different US states and localities in banning TikTok from official gadgets. New York State banned the app on state-owned gadgets method again in 2020. However issues went significantly downhill for the social media platform late final 12 months after FBI Director Christopher Wray labeled it as a nationwide safety risk. The US lawmakers believed TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance has backdoors for the nation’s ruling occasion.
Greater than 30 US states and the federal authorities have since banned the app on authorities gadgets. In Could, Montana went a step forward of others and introduced a statewide ban on TikTok, blocking residents from utilizing the app inside its territorial jurisdiction. The ban is to take impact on January 1, 2024. Nonetheless, TikTok customers and the corporate itself have sued the state over the choice. The authorized hurdles could delay the ban and even revoke it.
In the meantime, Congress is pushing for a nationwide ban on TikTok. In March, the US Home International Affairs Committee handed the invoice, often called the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act, to ban the favored Chinese language social media platform throughout the nation. That is regardless of ByteDance repeatedly denying the stories that Beijing has entry to its consumer information. Time will inform whether or not TikTok manages to avert a nationwide ban within the US.