New York Metropolis has banned TikTok from all authorities units. The directive issued on Wednesday requires metropolis companies to take away the ByteDance-owned social media app from their official units inside 30 days, whereas new downloads of the app are banned instantly. Metropolis staff are additionally barred from accessing the video-sharing platform via its web site on city-owned cell phones, tablets, computer systems, and different devices.
The choice got here after NYC Cyber Command, which is a subset of the town’s Workplace of Know-how and Innovation and leads its cyber protection efforts, said that TikTok “posed a safety risk to the town’s technical networks.” In its directive, New York Metropolis cited US Workplace of Administration and Finances pointers encouraging authorities authorities to ban TikTok’s use on official units. Town additionally talked about the same federal laws handed earlier this 12 months.
“Whereas social media is nice at connecting New Yorkers with each other and the town, we've got to make sure we're at all times utilizing these platforms in a safe method,” a New York Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated in an announcement to The Verge following the announcement of the TikTok ban. “NYC Cyber Command frequently explores and advances proactive measures to maintain New Yorkers’ knowledge secure.”
A number of different US states have banned TikTok on authorities units
New York Metropolis joins a number of different US states and localities in banning TikTok from official units. New York State banned the app on state-owned units means again in 2020. However issues went notably downhill for the social media platform late final 12 months after FBI Director Christopher Wray labeled it as a nationwide safety risk. The US lawmakers believed TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor ByteDance has backdoors for the nation’s ruling social gathering.
Greater than 30 US states and the federal authorities have since banned the app on authorities units. In Might, Montana went a step forward of others and introduced a statewide ban on TikTok, blocking residents from utilizing the app inside its territorial jurisdiction. The ban is to take impact on January 1, 2024. Nevertheless, TikTok customers and the corporate itself have sued the state over the choice. The authorized hurdles might delay the ban and even revoke it.
In the meantime, Congress is pushing for a nationwide ban on TikTok. In March, the US Home International Affairs Committee handed the invoice, referred to as the Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act, to ban the favored Chinese language social media platform throughout the nation. That is regardless of ByteDance repeatedly denying the stories that Beijing has entry to its consumer knowledge. Time will inform whether or not TikTok manages to avert a nationwide ban within the US.
