New York City Bans TikTok On All City Owned Devices

New York City Bans TikTok On All City Owned Devices

New York City on Wednesday became the latest jurisdiction to ban TikTok—the Chinese-owned social media platform popular among teens—on government devices.

A city spokesperson confirmed to Forbes, joining a growing list of states, companies and universities to ban the platform amid national security alarms over its parent company ByteDance’s alleged ties to the Chinese government.

New York City’s ban, which takes place immediately, gives city agencies 30 days to remove TikTok on city-owned devices and prohibits employees from using the app on those devices.

 

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The ban follows a review by the city’s Cyber Command office, which found the app poses a “security threat to the city’s technical networks,” and comes three years after New York State banned the platform on state devices, though that ban was not reported until April.

Back in March, the Biden administration is demanding that Chinese-owned TikTok be sold, or the popular video app could face a ban in the U.S., according to a TikTok spokesperson.

Whether federal officials have given TikTok a deadline to find a buyer remains unclear. Regardless, it is a major escalation by White House officials who have grown increasingly concerned about the safety of Americans’ data on the app used by more than 100 million Americans.

It is the first time the Biden administration has explicitly threatened to ban TikTok. President Trump attempted to put TikTok out of business, but the actions were halted by federal courts.