Texas Guv Greg Abbott trolled for banning TikTok on state-issued devices: 'Big help when the power grid fails'
AUSTIN, TEXAS: Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has directed state agencies to ban the use of TikTok on government-issued devices to “preserve the safety and cybersecurity of Texans." In a letter to Lt Gov Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan and the leaders of state agencies on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, Abbott said “TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users' devices -- including when, where and how they conduct internet activity -- and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government.”
Abbott further stated, "While TikTok has claimed that it stores US data within the US, the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to US data. It has also been reported that ByteDance planned to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens. Further, under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, all businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work including data sharing, and TikTok’s algorithm has already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including the Tiananmen Square protests.”
