OAKLAND, Calif., Dec 19 (Reuters) – State agencies in Louisiana and West Virginia on Monday became the latest to ban the use of the popular social media service TikTok on government-controlled devices amid concerns that China could use it to track Americans and censor contents.
About 19 of the 50 US states have now at least partially blocked public computer access to TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd. Most of the restrictions came in the last two weeks.
Some members of Congress last week proposed a nationwide ban, which would follow countries such as India that have already banned its use.
Jamf Holding Corp ( JAMF.O ), which sells software to organizations to enable filtering and security measures on iPhones and other Apple devices ( AAPL.O ), said government customers have increasingly blocked access to TikTok since the middle of this year .
About 65% of attempted connections to TikTok have been blocked this month on devices managed by Jamf’s public sector customers worldwide, including school districts and various other agencies, up from 10% of connections blocked in June, the company said.
TikTok on Monday reiterated a statement, saying the company was “disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies based on unsubstantiated falsehoods about TikTok that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States.”
In Louisiana, Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said he was banning TikTok on all devices his agency owns, citing potential security threats but without identifying specific issues. West Virginia State Auditor JB McCuskey said he did the same for his agency.
US officials and TikTok have been in talks for months about a national security pact that would address concerns about China’s access to data about TikTok’s more than 100 million US users.
Reporting by Paresh Dave;
Editing by Bill Berkrot
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