File photo of Governor Spencer Cox speaking at the Cedar City Business and Innovation Center ribbon-cutting event in Cedar City, Utah, November 15, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News/Cedar City news
st. George — Governor Spencer J. Cox issued an executive order banning the use of TikTok on all state-owned electronic devices. The order will take effect immediately, according to a news release issued by the governor’s office.
The order states that government agencies or employees of government agencies may not download or use the TikTok application or access the TikTok website on state-owned electronic devices. The executive order applies to all state executive agencies. “State-owned electronic device” includes a state-owned mobile phone, laptop, tablet, or other electronic device.
“China’s access to data collected by TikTok poses a threat to our cybersecurity,” Cox said in a press release. We ordered the same thing, we have to protect Utah people and make sure Utah people can trust our state’s security system.”
TikTok is owned and operated by ByteDance, a company headquartered in China with over 100 million users in the United States. China’s national security law compels companies headquartered in China to provide data that may contain personal data, intellectual property, or proprietary information of users in the United States and Utah. can.
Because of these practices, the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission, and a growing number of elected officials have raised concerns about security risks.
You can find the full Executive Order at this link.
