MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2022) The governor of the US state of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, signed on Wednesday an executive order banning the use of the TikTok video platform by civil servants due to alleged threat to national security.
"South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us. The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform," Noem said in a press release.
The order takes effect immediately and would apply to the employees and agencies of South Dakota, including persons and entities who contract with the state, commissions, and authorities or agents, the statement read. Besides, the order prohibits downloading or using TikTok, or visiting its website on state-owned or state-leased electronic devices capable of internet connectivity.
The governor expressed hope that the rest of the US states, and, potentially, Congress would follow the example of South Dakota.
Founded by Chinese company ByteDance in 2012, TikTok has since turned into one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, with over one billion monthly active users.
Earlier in the month, Brendan Carr, the commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, called on US authorities to ban TikTok in the country. The previous US administration attempted to ban Chinese social platforms TikTok and WeChat in 2020, with the main motive for this being to protect the personal data of US nationals. Meanwhile,�Beijing and the companies denied allegations of misuse of user data. After the ban was challenged in court, the administration of US President Joe Biden did not continue to fight for the implementation of the initiative of its predecessor. Recently, however, accusations against TikTok have resumed.
