Fever pitch: TikTok v. America

Governor Dunleavy wrote in a Jan. 6 memo that “effective immediately, all state executive branch agencies … may not use TikTok on any state-owned electronic device, download or use the TikTok application or visit any TikTok website on the state network.”

The Governor’s memo cited the risk of a foreign government, namely China, accessing “confidential or private data from state agencies or employees” as the main reason for the ban.

The state is not alone in creating rules around the use of TikTok. UAA students received an email detailing changes to the university’s social media policy on Feb. 17 – with a focus on TikTok-specific changes that limit the use of the app on university-owned devices.

The email, which was sent by the UA Office of Information Technology, states that “federal and state bans on the usage of TikTok on government devices prompted us to review how TikTok is used at UA, and update our social media policy to strike that balance.” Ultimately, the decision was made to prohibit university students, staff and faculty “from using university-owned devices to access personal TikTok accounts and software for non-university-related activities.”

The TikTok policy can be viewed on the university’s website under “Guidelines for the Use of Social Media” where it has its own general guidelines drop-down. Notably, TikTok is the only social media outlet to be directly singled out in the guidelines.

In an interview with TNL, Interim CIO of UAA Information Technology Services Rodney Brown said that the changes are “tempered” compared to Governor Dunleavy’s recent banning of the app on state-owned devices and networks.

Instead, Brown said that the university’s policy respects “the academic freedoms and … the culture of openness at the university.” The university is “not doing any technical controls” nor is it “blocking anything.”

“It’s really a policy change that kind of advises ... people to use that [TikTok] at your own discretion.”

When asked if there have been policy discussions regarding other social media outlets, Brown said that he has “never heard anything about us implementing any more technical controls … but right now [there are] no active plans that I’m aware of for any other type of social media. Right now, a lot of the focus is on TikTok.”

The university’s new policy comes amidst tense national discourse on US-China relations which has given rise to anti-TikTok sentiment. TikTok, with 150 million American users, is one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States – a worrying fact for many in national political circles due to the app’s Chinese origins.

 Allegedly, TikTok parent company ByteDance is required to share user data with the Chinese government in accordance with data laws in that country. What draws the most concern is Article 7 of the National Intelligence Law of the People’s Republic – a portion of which reads as follows:

“Any organization or citizen shall support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work in accordance with the law, and keep the secrets of the national intelligence work known to the public.”

According to the Associated Press, “more than half of the 50 U.S. states” have banned TikTok from government devices, “as have Congress and the U.S. armed forces.”

While political fervor around the app continues to escalate, ABC News reports that “there is no evidence that TikTok has shared US user data with the Chinese government.” 

TikTok CEO Shou Chew echoed this sentiment when he testified before Congress about the app on March 23, saying, “I have seen no evidence that the Chinese government has access to the data [of TikTok users]. They have never asked us [and] we have not provided.”

The hearing was convened by Congress to help determine whether or not TikTok should be used by Americans given the potential national security concerns.

Chew also said during the hearing that “in order to assure everybody here and all our users [of their data’s safety] – our commitment is to move the data into the United States to be stored on American soil by an American company overseen by American personnel.”

Chew’s comment was in reference to TikTok’s ‘Project Texas’ which the company claims is a “multi-pronged initiative” that will “strengthen the company’s data security program.” In short, TikTok’s aim with Project Texas is to consolidate U.S. user data into servers owned and operated by Austin-based computer software company Oracle.

Whether or not more controls are sanctioned on TikTok remains to be seen. At this time, however, TikTok can still be used on university-owned or administered accounts so long as it is for “official use” such as “marketing” or “outreach” according to the university’s previously mentioned social media guidelines.