US state of Indiana blocks TikTok from official devices

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Joining a host of other US states, the Midwestern state of Indiana has blocked the popular Chinese-owned app TikTok from state devices, officials said Thursday.

The Indiana Office of Technology blocked the video-sharing app “from being used in our state system and on our state devices" as of Dec. 7, office spokesman Graig Lubsen told The Journal Gazette daily of the city of Fort Wayne.

The office "is constantly testing the state system and making sure that the integrity is intact," Lubsen said in an email to the newspaper.

The Indiana state's attorney general's office also sued TikTok on Dec. 7 for misleading users over inappropriate content and security concerns over user information.

By one count, some 19 of the 50 US states have taken similar moves to ban TikTok from official devices.

FBI Director Chris Wray said that control of TikTok is in the hands of the Chinese government, warning that this raises national security concerns.

Testifying to the US Senate in September, TikTok Operations Chief Vanessa Pappas said that the Chinese government has no access to the application's data.

TikTok has been heavily scrutinized by US officials, with the FBI warning last month that data collected on the app could be "maliciously" used by administration in Beijing.

TikTok responded by saying it does not store US user data in China, where the law allows the government to force companies to hand over internal information.

A $1.7 trillion spending bill the Senate passed last week also codifies a ban on using TikTok on nearly all US government-issued devices, replacing patchwork initiatives previously limited to a handful of government agencies.

Once signed into law, the ban will cover nearly all government agencies.