State University System of Florida Board of Governors Bans TikTok On All School-Owned Devices At State Universities

Another one bites the dust.  Florida universities are now banned from using TikTok on all school-owned devices.  The ban on specific software, applications, and developers was put in place “due to the continued and increasing landscape of cyber threats.”

On Wednesday, Florida university presidents received a memo stating that “This regulation requires institutions to remove technologies published in the State University System (SUS) Prohibited Technologies List from any university-owned device and to block network traffic associated with these technologies.” CNN reported that the ban went into effect immediately.

According to the Board of Governors, “Therefore, at a March 29 meeting of the Florida Board of Governors, the Board unanimously approved an emergency regulation prohibiting the use of TikTok and other foreign actors identified as an immediate national security risk across our 12 public university campuses.” Kaspersky, VKontakte, Tencent QQ, WeChat, and any subsidiary or affiliate were also banned.

In response, TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaide told CNN, “TikTok has taken unprecedented actions to address national security concerns by securing U.S. user data on U.S. soil.  The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”

She added, “TikTok is enjoyed by more than 150 million Americans, including university and college students and teachers who use it to engage in the classroom.”