New York is the latest US state to join a growing number to ban the use of TikTok on government-owned devices. Because of this ordinance, New York City agencies are required to remove the app from their devices within 30 days–and employees will lose access to the app and its website on city-owned devices and networks.
Prior to this, New York has already banned TikTok on state-issued mobile devices, and the state of Montana was the first to ban TikTok for all devices. To make things clear, New York’s ordinance regarding TikTok only covers devices owned by the state and government–those who have personal TikTok accounts are not affected by it.
Similar to Montana’s reason for banning TikTok, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that the social media app allegedly “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.”
Despite all the accusations made against them, TikTok said it “has not shared, and would not share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government, and has taken substantial measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok users.”
While many US states and cities have chosen to restrict the use of TikTok on government devices, no state yet has imposed an outright ban on the app. While Montana is technically the first state to do so with its law set to go into effect on January 1, it is being challenged legally.
