VA Governor Bans TikTok, WeChat Apps From State Devices, Platforms

VIRGINIA — The use of the widely popular TikTok and WeChat mobile apps was banned on state devices and state-run wireless networks Friday by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in an executive order, arguing the apps developed by China-based companies pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Under Youngkin’s executive order, businesses that contract with the state of Virginia also are prohibited from using the apps on state-owned devices or information technology infrastructure.

“We are taking this step today to secure state government devices and wireless networks from the threat of infiltration and ensure that we safeguard the data and cybersecurity of state government,” Youngkin said in a statement.

TikTok is a popular video-sharing app, owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance. WeChat is a social media app developed by Chinese technology company Tencent Holdings Limited.

Other Republican governors have taken similar measures against the use of the popular apps. Earlier this month, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued an emergency order banning the use of TikTok from some executive branch platforms and devices as a move to enhance cybersecurity.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), who opposes Americans using TikTok, has applauded former President Donald Trump for his stance against the use of certain communications technologies made in China.

READ ALSO: Maryland Bans TikTok From State Devices, Platforms: Gov. Hogan

"This is not something you would normally hear me say, but Donald Trump was right on TikTok years ago," Warner said in late October, Axios reported.

On Friday, Warner issued a statement welcoming Youngkin's order banning TikTok on state government devices and networks.

“As a former governor and Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I’m glad to see that Virginia has banned TikTok on government devices," the Democratic senator said. "TikTok has the stamp of approval of the Chinese Communist Party and it poses a serious national security threat due to its data collection practices and its ability to reach and manipulate Americans. I hope to see more states take action to keep our government technology out of the CCP’s reach.”

Virginia’s Republican Attorney General, Jason Miyares, said Friday that the use of TikTok not only poses a threat to national security but negatively affects the mental health of young people.

“In March, I joined a bipartisan coalition of 43 other attorneys general to investigate TikTok’s physical and mental impact on children,” Miyares said in a statement.

TikTok, in a statement issued earlier this month, said it believes the concerns driving the decisions by state officials to ban TikTok "are largely fueled by misinformation about our company."

"We are happy to continue having constructive meetings with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices," the company said.

National security laws in China require private companies operating in the country to provide their data to the government if requested. TikTok contends, though, that it has not turned over data to the Chinese government.

In the U.S., Google, Facebook and Apple routinely provided user information to the National Security Agency, subject in many cases only to the oversight of secret courts and secret proceedings, The Intercept reported.

In August 2020, then-President Trump signed an executive order that essentially banned TikTok and WeChat from the United States. But the ban never went into effect and in June 2021, the Biden administration reversed the order and promised to evaluate the risks of China-based apps to U.S. national security, The Week reported last week.

In a court filing opposing Trump’s ban of TikTok, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote that the app has become “an information and organizing hub for Gen Z activists and politically minded young people.”

Trump’s ban on TikTok “violates fundamental First Amendment principles by eliminating a specific type of speaking, the unique expression of a TikTok user communicating with others through that platform, without sufficient considerations for the users’ speech,” the digital privacy and free speech group argued.

But according to legal experts, state governments have a legal basis to keep their employees from using TikTok on government-owned devices, similar to how they can control employees' use of other forms of technology.

Unlike these targeted bans of TikTok from government-owned devices in Virginia and other states, though, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill that would ban the TikTok app from all users nationwide, NPR reported.

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