NYC Prohibits Government Employees from Using TikTok
According to The Verge, it has been reported that TikTok will be prohibited on government devices in New York City. City agencies have been given a 30-day deadline to uninstall the app, which is owned by ByteDance, from their devices. Effective immediately, employees are not permitted to download or utilize TikTok on their city-approved technology. This action follows a previous ban by New York state in 2020, as stated by Times-Union.
The NYC Cyber Command, a subset of the Office of Technology and Innovation, spurred the decision after reporting to the city that TikTok posed a security threat. Other states and localities, notably Montana, have made waves banning TikTok more broadly in their jurisdictions. But on a broader scale, most lawmakers have embraced banning the app from government employees, including the federal government. 33 states now have cross-party restrictions on TikTok’s use of state-owned technology.
As the legislation comes up again and again in the face of a total ban on TikTok and other apps linked to the Chinese government, ByteDance is fighting to prove it is not a threat to national security. TikTok CEO Shou Chew even testified before Congress, reiterating that “ByteDance is not an agent of China.”
NYC’s Office of Technology and Innovation did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
