Recently, public universities throughout Florida banned several social media apps that posed a risk to security. On March 29th, The State University System of Florida Board of Governors banned TencentQQ, WeChat, Vkontakte, Kaspersky, Fizz and one of the most popular social media apps- TikTok.
Last Wednesday, hundreds of students that attend public universities in Florida received an email with the news that TikTok was not permitted on school networks or university-owned devices. This means that students will have to use their own cellular data or internet in order to access the popular app. The news traveled fast to the rest of the state and more universities began to ban these apps.
The decision was made on the basis of potential cybersecurity threats to the universities and national security. The ban affects the university students, staff, faculty, and visitors. Florida is one of the first states to implement this ban but concerns have been expressed in the higher ranks of the country, in both The House of Representatives and the Senate.
Cybersecurity has been a popular topic in the country since Biden’s administration has been pushing for some restrictions or a total ban nationwide. Since TikTok is owned by China, the United States is worried about the data of its citizens being used by the Chinese government.
Florida’s TikTok ban serves as a reference point for other states that might want to implement these same measures for the sake of security.
The first university to ban TikTok was Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University on March 7 which blocked access to the app on school devices and the school network. Following the decision by the Board of Governors, Florida State University implemented the ban on their campus and shortly after so did the University of Florida .
“The application is deemed a threat to national security and privacy of users,” said Robert Seniors, the FAMU Chief Information Officer.
Universities across the state followed the ban including: University of West Florida, New College of Florida, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, University of South Florida, and University of Central Florida.
These universities will not be able to create any content on the school network or site in order to uphold the decision of the board. This ban is currently in effect until further notice and university students will now have to find their own loopholes in order to access TikTok.
