Texas Governor Greg Abbott this past week has banned TikTok use from all state devices. In letters sent to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan, and the heads of all Texas state agencies, Governor Abbott outlined that he is banning the use of TikTok on government issue devices, such as laptops or phones, that state agencies use. 

“Today, I have directed agencies to take immediate action to protect sensitive information and critical infrastructure from TikTok,” wrote Abbott. “When the 88th Texas Legislature convenes next year, the Executive Branch will stand ready to assist in the codification and implementation of any cybersecurity reforms that may be deemed necessary.”

The Texas Department of Public Safety (TxDPS) and the Texas Department of Information Resources (TxDIR) is tasked with creating a policy that bans the use of TikTok and other invasive programs or apps from a state agency or Texas government device.

TxDPS and TxDIR have a deadline on January 15th to establish a policy around the use of TikTok on government-issued devices, such as phones or laptops. Afterward, all of the state agencies have a deadline on February 15th to establish their own policy regarding TikTok use on agency devices. These policies will also have to regard the use of TikTok on personal devices owned by agency workers as well.

Things that these policies also will take into account, outlined in the Governor’s letter to state agencies, are:

• “Use of personal devices by agency employees or contractors to conduct state business, such as a TikTok-enabled cell phone with remote access to an employee’s [.gov] email account;
• Identification of any sensitive locations, meetings, or personnel within an agency that could be exposed to TikTok-enabled personal devices;
• Network-based restrictions to prevent the use of TikTok on any personal device while it is located on agency property; and
• Whether this model plan should incorporate other technology providers besides TikTok, including any apps, services, hardware, or software.”

TikTok is a Chinese-owned company that is regulated by the Chinese government. How things work over in China is that, under Chinese law, companies have to assist the government in intelligence gathering. TikTok states in their terms of services, which people agree to but never read, state that they can gather data over our Internet usage and location. 

“While TikTok has claimed that it stores U.S. data within the U.S., the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to U.S. data. It has also been reported that ByteDance planned to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens,” said Abbott.

The federal government has banned to use of TikTok on any devices used by Homeland Security, the State Department, and the Department of Defense and their personnel. Governor Abbott is deciding to ban TikTok from state agencies so that the Chinese do not have any access to Texas intelligence or infrastructure.