The University of Oklahoma announced on Tuesday that students and staff will be banned from using the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok.
David Horton, the Chief Information Officer and Senior Associate Vice President sent students an email citing an executive order signed earlier this month by Gov. Kevin Stitt.
“In compliance with the Governor’s Executive Order 2022-33, effective immediately, no University employee or student shall access the TikTok application or website on University-owned or operated devices, including OU wired and wireless networks,” Horton said in the email, according to Fox News.
“As a result of the Executive Order, access to the TikTok platform will be blocked and cannot be accessed from the campus network,” the email continued. “University-administered TikTok accounts must be deleted and alternate social media platforms utilized in their place.”
Stitt issued an executive order on Dec 8. banning TikTok for state government agencies, employees, and contractors on government networks or government-issued devices, including state-issued cellphones, computers, or any other device capable of internet connectivity, according to the governor’s office, which said the order was “in response to ongoing national and cybersecurity threats created by TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and dissemination of users information within the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok is now banned from state devices and state networks in Oklahoma.
We will not participate in helping the Chinese Communist Party gain access to government information.
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) December 8, 2022
“Maintaining the cybersecurity of state government is necessary to continue to serve and protect Oklahoma citizens and we will not participate in helping the Chinese Communist Party gain access to government information,” Stitt said at the time.
TikTok is reportedly used by more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. and has come under fire from some in Congress.
The massive 4,115-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill being rushed to a conclusion before the end of the week includes a ban on TikTok for government devices.
Pushed by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who introduced it alongside Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., the provision is known as the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” Fox Business reported.
“Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget … shall develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal of any covered application from information technology,” the bill states.
Rubio appeared on Fox News last week to say that China was collecting private data on Americans that they can use to divide our country:
We need to #BanTikTok because @tiktok_us is controlled by a foreign government in #China that collects the private data on over 50 million American mobile devices every day & is using it to track,influence,manipulate & divide our country #BanTikTok pic.twitter.com/ROv34792o9
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 15, 2022
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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