On Thursday, Gov. Bill Lee signed a law that prohibits public colleges and universities from allowing access to video platforms headquartered in China on campus internet networks, a measure that targets the Chinese-based social media giant TikTok.
The law went into effect immediately. As early as Friday morning, students reported opening the TikTok app on UT wi-fi to see that nothing would load. Under the law, students, staff, faculty and the general public will be blocked access to TikTok and a slate of other Chinese apps, like WeChat and Sina Weibo, while on campus networks.
The law does not prevent students from accessing TikTok on a personal internet connection or third-party network.
The ban comes after states like Mississippi, North Carolina, Louisiana and Wisconsin banned the app on state-owned devices. Other universities have also made the move to ban the app on campus including Auburn, Arkansas State, Georgia, Oklahoma, Idaho State and Iowa.
Currently, Montana is attempting to ban the app throughout the entire state and would be the first to do so. The state legislature introduced the bill in February and the State House voted in favor of it Thursday. A final House vote is expected to take place soon.
At a time when tensions between the United States and China have escalated following the discovery of several spy balloons in U.S. airspace earlier this year, as well as increasingly fraternal diplomatic bonds between President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, both federal and local governments have taken harder bipartisan stances against the use of TikTok.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned at a congressional hearing in March over data privacy concerns on the video sharing platform, which has around 1 billion monthly users worldwide and 150 million monthly users in the U.S. alone.
The Tennessee law recognizes several exceptions if Chinese apps are necessary for law enforcement activities, investigations, audits and other legal functions of a public institution of higher education.
The university has created an FAQ page about the new law.
This is a developing story.
