As federal officials warned that TikTok threatens national security, South Carolina became the second state to permanently ban its use on state employees’ electronic devices.
TikTok has become immensely popular among Gen Z millennials who have abandoned Facebook and Instagram. The social media platform has more than 700 million active users worldwide – 100 million of whom are in the United States.
According to the Daily Wire, after the Federal Communications Commission said it could not regulate the social media app or control American data flowing back to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), lawmakers have become increasingly concerned about security concerns over the social media platform.
As a growing bipartisan coalition in Congress continues to push for a national ban on TikTok, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster took action against state employees after receiving warning signs from federal officials that TikTok poses “a clear and present danger” to its users.
Governor McMaster wrote in the letter to the state’s Department of Administration Executive Director Marcia Adams, “Protecting our State’s critical cyber infrastructure from foreign and domestic threats is key to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our citizens and businesses.”
Just recently, South Dakota became the first state to ban state employees and contractors from downloading TikTok on their government-issued devices due to fears that the social media platform is being used by the Chinese government to gather Americans’ personal information, according to the NY Post.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem recently went on FOX News to explain her executive order that ordered all state employees and contractors to stop using it on their government-issued devices.
As federal officials warn that TikTok poses a threat to national security, states are taking action to protect their citizens. As concerns about privacy and security continue to escalate, it is clear that something needs to be done about TikTok. A ban on the app is the best way to protect our citizens, especially our youth, from the dangers posed by this foreign platform. America should be promoting its own social media platforms, not ones that pose a risk to our safety and security. We need to ban tiktok now for the sake of our nation.
