Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has banned all South Dakota government workers from using the Chinese Communist Party-owned social media app TikTok.
Noem signed an order to ban TikTok in her state due to its links to the brutal Communist regime.
In announcing the ban, Noem expressed concerns that the application is gathering information on Americans to be used by the hostile government in China.
“South Dakota is banning TikTok for state government,” Noem tweeted.
“We will have no part in intelligence gathering for China, a nation that hates America.”
“I hope other states quickly follow this example and protect the vital private information of our citizens,” the governor added.
Noem confirmed that the bill will ban the application for “state government agencies, employees, and contractors using state devices.”
Experts have expressed concerns that the popular application appears to be very invasive when downloaded onto phones.
There is evidence that the company is sending users’ private information to the Chinese government.
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is partly owned by the Chinese government.
Like all companies in China, ByteDance has sworn allegiance to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
“The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform,” Noam added.
Others have pointed out that the application appears to be tweaked to keep users distracted in the U.S. while it reinforces good habits and behavior in China.
South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson applauded Noem’s announcement.
Johnson said there were efforts to do the same in the federal government.
“This is great news,” tweeted Johnson.
“I’ve been leading legislation to do this at the federal level, too.
“China and TikTok pose a real threat to national security.
“It’s great to see momentum growing from other leaders to #BlockTheTok,” he added.
An August report from Forbes found that hundreds of employees at TikTok and ByteDance had previously worked for the Chinese government.
Many other employees continued to work for both the Communist regime and the social media companies.
