TikTok has appeared in the news more often than it would like, and unfortunately, it’s for the wrong reasons. The social media platform with its headquarters in China, has faced series of backlash due to the unending cyber security risks associated with using the application.
In a recent development, the State University System of Florida Board of Governors has banned TikTok, along with some other software’s, from use on university-owned devices and networks. This ban was reportedly effective immediately, with other affected applications including Kaspersky, VKontakte, Tencent QQ and WeChat.
The Board approved the regulation prohibiting the use of TikTok and other foreign parties identified as an immediate national security risk across the 12 public university campuses. The reason for this restriction stems from the continuous and increasing landscape of cyber threats, which pose a risk to data privacy, particularly concerning student data.
According to CNN, TikTok’s spokesperson Hilary McQuaide said “TikTok has taken unprecedented actions to address national security concerns by securing U.S. user data on U.S. soil”. While this is supposed to be reassuring, the location of the data being collected by the company shouldn’t be the primary concern, rather the people who have access to this data.
TikTok was recently banned on all government devices in Australia, read more here.
