The executive branch of the Vermont state government has banned the use of the popular social media app TikTok on all state-owned devices, following similar moves by at least 27 other states and the federal government.
The ban, which took effect Monday, applies to all state-issued electronic devices used by executive-branch staff and contractors, according to an email sent to all employees on Friday by Shawn Nailor, Vermont’s chief information officer and secretary of digital services.
“An agency or agency employee shall not download or use the social networking service TikTok, or any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Limited” — the Chinese company that owns TikTok — “or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited (‘TikTok’) on any State-owned electronic device,” Nailor wrote in the new regulation.
“An agency may not sponsor content on TikTok or maintain an agency-branded or agency-sponsored TikTok account,” Nailor wrote. “A person or entity contracted with an agency shall not download or use the TikTok application or visit any TikTok website on any State-owned electronic device.”
In his email, Nailor also announced Vermont is also banning the Chinese social media app WeChat on state staff and contractors’ devices.
The two Chinese companies are the latest to be banned from Vermont state government devices. The regulations cite a 2019 worldwide threat assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, expressing concern “about the potential for Chinese intelligence and security services to use Chinese information technology firms as routine and systemic espionage platforms against the United States and allies.”
Nailor did not respond to an email and a voicemail requesting an interview on Monday.
In an email, TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown said governments’ TikTok bans reflect “nothing more than the hypothetical concerns they’ve heard on the news.”
“We can understand why state officials wouldn’t want state employees to have entertainment apps on their work devices for personal use, but singling out TikTok on all state devices and networks does nothing to improve security,” Brown wrote. “All it does is prevent state universities, health agencies, economic development agencies, and others needing to share information publicly from reaching their constituents on a platform loved by millions of Americans.”
Brown said TikTok is working with the federal government on solutions that would address security concerns.
The Vermont State Police is one state agency that has had a TikTok account.
Other states that have banned TikTok on state-owned devices include Texas and New Hampshire. In December, President Joe Biden signed a ban on the use of the social media app on all federal executive branch government devices, with some exceptions for law enforcement and national security purposes. The U.S. House of Representatives has also banned TikTok on all of its devices.