New York City banned TikTok on government-owned devices
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The city of New York banned TikTok on government-owned devices Wednesday, citing security concerns that have drawn bipartisan scrutiny.

TikTok has already been banned on federal devices last year by Congress, and several states have taken similar measures.

Generally, policymakers are concerned about TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese tech company.

The city of New York banned TikTok on government-owned devices Wednesday, citing security concerns that have drawn bipartisan scrutiny.

Several states have taken similar steps to ban TikTok on federal devices. Congress voted last year to ban TikTok on federal devices. The concern generally stems from TikTok’s ownership by China-based tech company ByteDance, since many policymakers fear that this structure could make U.S. users’ information vulnerable to being accessed by the Chinese government, if forced to hand over information to comply with Chinese law.

According to a spokesperson for NYC City Hall, the ban was imposed after the city’s Cyber Command concluded that TikTok “posed a security threat to the city’s technical networks.”

The app must be removed from government-owned devices within 30 days.

As a result of the ban, New York City is in line with the federal government. Although TikTok has been blocked on government-owned devices, broader action has not yet been taken against it. The momentum for placing greater restrictions on TikTok has waned since a rush of legislation earlier this year and a hearing with the CEO of the app before Congress.

The U.S. government has been presented with a TikTok plan aimed at ensuring the security of U.S. user data, but it hasn’t allayed concerns.

In response to the NYC ban, TikTok declined to comment.