NYC Bans TikTok from City Employees Because of a ‘Security Threat’, Joining Other Cities, States

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 16 August 2023, 10:08 pm

A new security threat was found by New York City that lies within the TikTok platform, and now, the social media is facing a ban from city employees' devices. This is another massive move against TikTok, especially amidst the looming local jurisdictions taking action against the app where it sees bans from government devices.

Still, this does not mean a city-wide ban for all users using TikTok, as this will center on government devices that have the app installed on the tech.

NYC Bans TikTok from City Employee Devices

(Photo : Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The Verge reported that New York City is now enforcing a city-wide ban against TikTok, particularly on city employee devices, effective immediately. This comes after the review of the NYC Cyber Command, claims an official.

Its new command gives employees that have TikTok installed on their government-issued devices to remove the app, with 30 days to comply with this latest directive from the city.

On a wider scale, there are no reviews regarding TikTok's ban on government devices for the entire country, and according to 9to5 Mac, this will have ByteDance addressing the said security threat that TikTok imposes.

TikTok's Security Threat Against NYC

The main reason for NYC's ban on TikTok is because of the security threat found on the app that affects the city's technical networks. However, it was not specified by New York City which was the security threat that TikTok is posing for their said government devices.

Still, the ban is now imposed against the TikTok app for city-issued work phones for all employees, one that centers on security issues against the Chinese app.

NYC is one of the major cities that joined in banning TikTok, amongst other cities and states in the US, citing security issues.

TikTok and its Bans

While local jurisdiction in the United States has been pushing for TikTok's ban on government devices, they are not the only ones that do this against the Chinese social media app. One of the largest prohibitions against TikTok was from the United Kingdom, with the country preventing access to the app on government-issued devices.

Other countries including Belgium and New Zealand also joined in on banning TikTok from government devices and cites security concerns as their main reasons for the app's removal.

This massive move against TikTok started in the United States where different states have already enforced said ban against the app.

There was also a significant ban from Montana against TikTok that aims to completely ban the app from all devices, residents included.

Now, it moves away from countries and states, as it gets smaller in scale, with New York City's local jurisdiction declaring TikTok as a banned app for all government-issued devices, as part of its protection against the security threat it brings.