This Article is From Dec 30, 2022

Kansas Governor Bans TikTok On Government-Issued Devices, Citing Security Concerns

Laura Kelly, the governor of Kansas, has banned TikTok from state-owned devices and has made it illegal to access the state network.

Kansas Governor Bans TikTok On Government-Issued Devices, Citing Security Concerns

TikTok is a video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

Kansas Governor Laura Kelly forbade TikTok on state-owned devices in the executive branch because to security concerns, claiming that information could be leaked to China. Kansas is a state in the Midwest of the United States.

Laura Kelly is one of the first Democratic governors to restrict the popular social media app on the official devices issued by the government.

On December 28, the governor banned the Chinese app by executive order after expressing concern about the app's security hazards. 

Governor Kelly said in the executive order that "all entities under my jurisdiction and their employees shall be prohibited from utilising the Tik Tok platform on state-owned devices or through the State of Kansas network."

"Any active official State of Kansas TikTok accounts shall be removed, and any instances of the TikTok application shall be removed from state-owned devices."

"All entities under my jurisdiction will have 30 days from the date of this order to comply with this order. At the 30-day mark, the Kansas Information Security Office (KISO) will begin to implement limitations on the state network consistent with this order."

Meanwhile, US House staffers have also been banned from downloading TikTok on House devices and must delete the app from any mobile device onto which it is currently downloaded, according to a memo from House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor.

With this move, the US House joins the list of a number of government entities that have imposed a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app. Earlier in December, the Senate approved a measure that will ban all federal employees from downloading or using the application on government devices.

(With inputs from ANI)

.