NJ governor bans TikTok on state devices

New Jersey is the latest state to ban the use of TikTok, the popular video-based social media platform, on state government devices, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced on Monday.

“Bolstering cybersecurity is critical to protecting the overall safety and welfare of our State,” Murphy said in a statement. “The proactive and preventative measures that we are implementing today will ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and safety of information assets managed by New Jersey State government.”

“There have been national security concerns about user data the Chinese government might require ByteDance to provide,” the statement adds. “Analysis of various versions of TikTok have been found to collect the keystrokes of users, make screen captures every few seconds, access data from the phone’s clipboard, and collect the unique Media Access Control (MAC) address of the device, among other user information.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) also issued an executive order banning the use of TikTok from government devices on the first day of his second term as governor.

Federal lawmakers included a ban on the use of the application on the devices of federal employees in their $1.7 trillion funding package that was passed in late December.