Monitoring Desk
Several Texas universities announced on Wednesday that they have barred the social media app TikTok from state-issued devices and restricted access to the social media application on their Internet networks, US media reported.
The University of Texas at Austin also announced on Tuesday that it had banned the social media app from its networks. The university added that it has started removing the app from state-issued devices due to privacy concerns.
Jeff Nyland, adviser to the president on technology strategy said in a message that the step aims to bring the University into compliance with an order from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in December that asked state agencies to remove cybersecurity risks posed by TikTok.
TikTok in US
Nyland claimed that the university is taking these key steps to remove risks to the information contained on the campus’s network and to its critical infrastructure.
The University of Texas at Dallas, another campus, said that it started eliminating TikTok from university devices in December and will take additional measures in this regard.
Another Texas-based university, Texas A&M, said on Wednesday that it had taken similar measures to limit access to the social media app. The campus has blocked access to TikTok on state devices and is in the process of limiting access to the app on its Wi-Fi network.
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More than half of states in the US have taken measures towards a partial or full ban of TikTok on official devices.
TikTok said that they believe the concerns driving these steps are largely fueled by misinformation about their firm.
