Kentucky has joined more than 20 US states in banning the popular video app TikTok from government agencies over cybersecurity concerns.
The state said it had updated its personnel directory to prevent state employees from using government-run devices to access the Chinese-owned app "other than for law enforcement purposes."
The governors of Wisconsin and North Carolina signed orders banning TikTok from government agencies on Thursday. Ohio, New Jersey, and Arkansas took similar measures earlier this week. Some countries have overtaken TikTok targeting. New Jersey and Wisconsin have also banned sellers, products, and services from other Chinese companies, including Huawei Technologies, Hikvision, WeChat owner Tencent Holdings, and ZTE. In addition to the Russian company Kaspersky.
Calls to ban TikTok from government agencies gained momentum after Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), said in November that it posed national security risks.
Ray pointed to the threat that the Chinese government might harness the app to influence users or control their devices.
TikTok, which has had more than 100 million users for three years, has been seeking to reassure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its contents cannot be manipulated by the Chinese Communist Party or any other entity under Beijing's control.
Last month, President Joe Biden approved a government funding bill that includes a ban on federal employees from using or downloading TikTok on government-owned devices.
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