British authorities said they are banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from government mobile phones following similar moves by the U.S. and European Union.
Just like teens, members of Congress are setting up TikTok accounts — even as the popular app is increasingly barred from government devices and heads of federal intelligence agencies raise concerns about data collection and surveillance obtained by a Chinese-owned company.
The University System of Georgia is banning the use of TikTok, WeChat and Telegram on computers and phones owned by any of its 26 universities and colleges.
A ban on Chinese-owned TikTok for government devices is in a new spending bill. It will not affect most of the 100 million U.S. users of the app, but it is a major anti-TikTok escalation by the U.S.
On the Thursday Dec. 15 edition of Georgia Today: Georgia Power is raising rates, TikTok has been banned for some Georgians, Atlanta protesters face terrorism charges, and students rally against guns.
Trump also said he's been advised "there is no legal path" for the U.S. to keep a cut of whatever TikTok deal the government approves, an idea he had earlier floated.
ByteDance-owned tutoring app GOGOKID employes about 4,000 American teachers. Trump's crack down on TikTok could mean those instructors will lose their jobs.
The White House has targeted the Chinese-owned app with an executive order that would effectively ban it from operating in the U.S. Lawyers for TikTok say the president's action is unconstitutional.
Lawyers for the video-sharing app are likely to say the executive order was unconstitutional, arguing the company was not informed, as is standard, and the national-security concerns are baseless.
