Many colleges across the country have banned TikTok, as the app is seen as addictive and harmful to students’ social media habits. However, two of America’s largest colleges, Yale and MIT, just followed suit. experts believe that by banning TikTok, these prestigious universities are hoping to boost their declining popularity rates.
Texas A&M is among a number of American colleges that have banned the social media app, ByteDance’s TikTok, for its inappropriate content. According to University policy released this week, “smartphones and other Technology devices are not allowed in dormitories or classrooms.”
The mandate comes as schools across America grapple with how to regulate increasingly popular apps such as TikTok, which is known for its short videos that often include sexual or violent content. In recent months, Snapchat and Instagram have also imposed similar bans on their platforms.
Critics say apps like TikTok serve as conduits for cyberbull
Governors in the Southern United States have taken measures to restrict access to social media network, TikTok, following outcry across the country over students using the app to record and share videos of people without their knowledge or consent. This flurry of bans is inspired by recent executive orders issued by a number of state governors. Public universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Dakota and now Texas have taken measures to restrict access to the app on campus wi-fi networks and school owned devices. While these bans may be controversial among some students who view them as censorship efforts targeting free speech rights , they are likely seen as necessary by administrators who are concerned about inappropriate content being shared online.
Governor Abbott’s decision to ban the app from government devices is a controversial one, with many arguing that it is a privacy violation. While some agency officials have claimed that they plan to implement various security measures in order to protect their users’ data, others accuse Abbott of pandering to political interests by instilling fear and mistrust in technology.
The University of Texas plans to take important steps to protect its information and critical infrastructure. This takes into account the increasing risks associated with cyber attacks, which could potentially damage or destroy valuable data. By ensuring that its network is secure and avoiding potential vulnerabilities, the university will be able to keep its vital operations running smoothly.
Governor’s directive specifically identifies how TikTok harvests data from its users’ devices, including when, where and how they conduct internet activity. This sensitive information is then offered to the Chinese government. As a result, users may be at risk of experiencing surveillance and tracking by the government.
In response to the Texas A&M app being blocked on campus, students, faculty, staff and visitors are still able to access the website. This move seems purely punitive as the app was not broken in any way and served a purpose beyond just accessing academic content. The decision seems misguided and petty given that other universities do not have this issue.
TikTok continues to fluctuate in fame and public opinion in the United States. While it is constantly topping charts, it also finds itself under scrutiny from both the federal and state levels as its popularity has begun to outpace society’s expectations. With regulatory agencies taking notice of how often young people are using TikTok, companies like Apple have responded by rolling out new restrictions on who can access their platforms. This ambiguity in terms of TikTok’s social credibility creates a strange and unbalanced environment where the app remains incredibly popular but also plagued with scrutiny.
The move to ban TikTok from government devices comes as concern over the app’s ability to collect data on its users and spread Chinese state influence operations continues to grow. The FBI has warned that the app could be used to spy on officials, while concerns have also been raised about how the app is used to groom children for addiction.
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The U.S. government has been suspected of using social media platforms to covertly influence public opinion for years now, but the evidence to date suggests that this behavior is not facilitated by major tech companies and would run afoul of their platform policies. This leaves open the possibility that these activities are being carried out indirectly by U.S. tech companies through their intermediaries, though no concrete evidence has yet shown this to be the case.
The irony of ByteDance being accused of censorship is not lost on many people. Apps headquartered in the United States generally have more recourse for pushing back against government requests and more channels for transparency around those relationships. This makes it easier for users to hold their companies accountable when things go wrong, as happened with Facebook during the 2016 presidential election. Critics are concerned that ByteDance could be using its power to suppress unpopular opinions.
Worries about the Chinese government’s control of TikTok have been longstanding in U.S.policy circles, and they appeared to take on a new form during the Trump era when Trump administration officials attempted to force ByteDance to sell its U.S. business to a new owner. However, those efforts failed over time and now Biden administration officials appear to be revisiting those concerns with TikTok’s current Chinese ownership structure.
It is clear that ByteDance has been hiding some important information about its operations in China. This raises eyebrows about what else the company may be concealing. It is unclear whether or not ByteDance was tracking journalists’ IP addresses in an effort to identify which employees were sharing unauthorized information, but it is alarming enough that the company would consider such a tactic. Whether or not any illegal activity took place remains unknown, but it does raise questions about why ByteDance would be so secretive about its operations in China.
Withdrawing access to the TikTok app from U.S. universities may have limited effects on its popularity, as students can easily switch to their own mobile data plans to get around network-level bans and many school employees will soon have a firewall between the app and their university accounts. Nevertheless, the app’s ubiquity is concerning in a country where children are often pressured into participating in online content consumerism and where social media platforms have been linked with negative health effects.
