Two North Carolina representatives are pressing Gov. Roy Cooper’s office to follow other states in issuing an executive order banning TikTok from government devices.
State Reps. Jason Saine and Jon Hardister, both Republicans, sent a letter to the Democrat governor (pdf) insisting that Cooper remove the Chinese video app “swiftly and decisively,” deeming it to be a “matter of national security.”
“As we know, the Chinese government is constantly working to infiltrate our communications and access intellectual data within the United States,” Saine and Hardister wrote. “If sensitive data is breached, it could pose both an economic and security threat for North Carolina. We have a responsibility to prevent this from happening, which is why we are urging an executive order as soon as possible.”
Saine and Hardister referenced past orders, such as the chief administrative officer for the U.S. House of Representatives issuing an order on Wednesday for all lawmakers to delete the app on all devices managed by the House.
The $1.7 trillion omnibus bill President Joe Biden signed into law on Thursday includes legislation banning the social media app from government devices due to concerns over national security.
State-Level Bans
State governments have also banned TikTok, which is owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd.
As of Friday, Indiana became the 20th state to block TikTok from being used on state devices.
In addition, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, filed two lawsuits against TikTok stating that the app made false claims.
“The TikTok app is a malicious and menacing threat unleashed on unsuspecting Indiana consumers by a Chinese company that knows full well the harms it inflicts on users,” Rokita said in a press release. “With this pair of lawsuits, we hope to force TikTok to stop its false, deceptive and misleading practices, which violate Indiana law.”
Rokita said the first lawsuit alleges that TikTok lured children onto the platform using misleading advertising stating that the app contains only “’infrequent/mild’ sexual content, profanity, or drug references.”
However, Rokita said the app is in fact “rife with examples of such material.”
“An essential part of TikTok’s business model is presenting the application as safe and appropriate for children ages 13 to 17,” he said.
The second lawsuit alleges that TikTok collects data from its consumers and that it “deceived those consumers to believe that this information is protected from the Chinese government and Communist party.”
“In multiple ways, TikTok represents a clear and present danger to Hoosiers that is hiding in plain sight in their own pockets,” Rokita said. “At the very least, the company owes consumers the truth about the age-appropriateness of its content and the insecurity of the data it collects on users. We hope these lawsuits force TikTok to come clean and change its ways.”
Saine and Hardister said that if Cooper doesn’t take action, they will proceed to work in the 2023 legislative session to bring about a law that would ban TikTok from government-issued devices in North Carolina.
“However, it is our hope that your office will take swift and immediate action to address this matter in the interest of enhancing our domestic security and protecting our citizens,” they said.
The Epoch Times reached out to Cooper’s office and TikTok for comment.
Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
Matt McGregor covers news and features throughout the United States. Send him your story ideas:
matt.mcgregor@epochtimes.us
