Tick-Tock, TikTok

By Joh Covington, Skyline Desk Chief

SUL ROSS- Sul Ross State University announced in an email to students Dec. 12 that TikTok, the viral video-sharing platform, would be blocked on all Sul Ross networks and banned from download or use on SRSU managed devices.

The ban of TikTok was in response to the state government prohibition, declared five days prior.

On Dec. 7, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the ban of TikTok, a hugely popular Chinese social media site that US officials say threatens national security. This announcement was addressed to state agency heads and put into effect immediately for any and all government issued devices.

“We have gained information about growing threats posed by TikTok that require immediate action to protect our State’s sensitive information and critical infrastructure. This threat demands immediate vigilance from your agency,” Abbott wrote.

“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” he said, when asked what initiated the ban.

Prior to Abbott’s statewide ban, the use of the app was already prohibited by government agencies such as the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense due to the security risk.

“The director of the FBI recently warned that the Chinese government can control TikTok’s content algorithm, allowing it to perpetrate influence operations within the United States,” Abbott said.

Sul Ross was joined by Texas A&M, the University of Texas at Austin, and many others in the prohibition.

Sul Ross chief information officer, Jacob Fuentes, told the Skyline, “Effective immediately, all university faculty, staff, students, and contractors were prohibited from downloading or using TikTok on university owned/issued devices and other information technology resources.”

“The SRSU Office of Information Technology implemented controls to block TikTok access on our managed devices and networks. We've actively monitored our network for instances that may have violated the directive and implemented additional controls as needed,” said Fuentes.

On Feb 6, Abbott sent a press release and a tweet that shared his plan to ban TikTok statewide.

“Texans, especially our state agencies and employees, must be protected from having sensitive information shared with the Chinese Communist Party,” Abbott said in his tweet.

Sul Ross has already begun action in response to these plans.

“The Office of the Governor published a press release regarding the statewide plan for prohibited technologies. SRSU, along with the other universities within our system, will be developing policies to support implementation of this plan,” Fuentes said.

When the students were asked, many didn’t feel strongly about the issue, and some don’t use TikTok at all.

However, Sul Ross student, Payton Miller said, “I think the ban for it without proven reason is kind of stupid. We’re having to use our personal data even in our dorm.”

Miller understood the banning in the classroom but believes that the ban incorporating all wi-fi on campus is unnecessary and inconvenient for students.

Betse Esparza, the director of university communications, shared that the university hadn't receive any negative responses to the changes and that the ban itself was not a surprise.

Abbott has faced a lot of backlash from the ban decision.

Abbott also released a directive that instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Information Resources to plan for agencies to regulate the use of TikTok on personal devices by Feb 15.

This plan will also place network-based restrictions on the app while users are on state property, which includes public universities like Sul Ross.

The incursion may lie in that small detail, blocking the use of the app on private devices via state network control. It is one thing to demand government compliance from government devices, but another matter to begin to control what private citizens have access to.

Jamal Brown, TikTok spokesperson said, "We're disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok."

"We're especially sorry to see the unintended consequences of these rushed policies beginning to impact universities' ability to share information, recruit students, and build communities around athletic teams, student groups, campus publications, and more." Brown said.

Whether or not TikTok may be invading privacy is a debate that will be answered in due time, and users should be made aware of the risks.

However, TikTok is a platform where information is shared, raising questions about government regulation of its citizen’s private activities.