19 US states impose a ban on the Tik Tok platform

The states of “Louisiana” and “West Virginia” have become the latest to impose a ban on the use of the “TikTok” application for short videos on their devices, due to concerns that China could use it to track Americans and monitor content.

And 19 US states have at least partially prevented devices used by those state governments from accessing the TikTok platform, which is owned by the Beijing-based Chinese company Bytedance Limited.

Most of the bans took place in the past two weeks.

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardonin said he had banned the TikTok platform from all devices owned by his agency, citing potential security threats but without specifying any current risks.

West Virginia's state comptroller JB McCowski said he did the same in his home state.

Comprehensive ban

Last week, some members of Congress proposed a comprehensive ban on the platform nationwide, which would make the United States follow the trail of countries - such as India - that have already banned the use of the platform.

Jamf Holding Corp., which sells software to institutions that allow them to perform revisions and security measures on iPhones and other Apple devices, said that its government clients have blocked access to TikTok since the beginning of this year.

The company added that about 65% of attempts to contact TikTok this month were blocked on devices operated by the company for its public sector clients around the world, including schools and other bodies, an increase of 10% from the contact attempts that were blocked last June.

Political propaganda

TikTok reaffirmed Monday in a statement that the company is "disturbed that many states are quick to join in political propaganda to enforce policies based on baseless allegations about TikTok that will not benefit the national security of the United States."

US officials and others from TikTok have been engaged in talks for months about a national security agreement that would address US concerns about China's access to the data of more than 100 million US subscribers on the TikTok platform.