OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Gov. Pete Ricketts announced today that the State of Nebraska will be blocking TikTok on all State electronic devices.
Ricketts said this block comes from concerns with the security of the app and its connection to the Chinese government.
“The Chinese government has long engaged in systematic, covert efforts to access sensitive data from U.S. governments, companies, and individuals,” said Gov. Ricketts. “As an app owned by a company based in China, TikTok is legally obligated to provide data from its users to the country’s communist regime upon request. To maintain the security of data owned by the State of Nebraska, and to safeguard against the intrusive cyber activities of China’s communist government, we’ve made the decision to ban TikTok on State devices.”
This comes nearly a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to shut down the app in 45 days unless it is sold to an American company.
On August 5, 2020, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the federal government had concerns with protecting Americans’ electronic data from being accessed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“President Trump has mentioned impending action on TikTok, and for good reason," Pompeo said. "With parent companies based in China, apps like TikTok, WeChat, and others are significant threats to the personal data of American citizens, not to mention tools for CCP content censorship.”
