(NewsNation) — TikTok is now under fire in multiple states.
On Wednesday, Texas and Indiana were the latest to move against the social media giant. Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered all Texas state agencies to ban its use. And Indiana’s attorney general sued TikTok, alleging it violates state consumer protection laws and fails to disclose the Chinese government’s ability to access sensitive information.
And on Tuesday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced an emergency cybersecurity directive in his state.
Cybersecurity specialist Rick Jordon, CEO of Attain
Technology, explained the concern to NewsNation. tiktok owner, bytedanceIt is a Chinese company. It claims that your data is stored in the United States and that Chinese government officials do not have access to it.
“He now lives here in the US, but there is still evidence according to the FBI that the (Chinese Communist Party) is still targeting that data and is now only accessing it remotely,” Jordon said.
The data includes not only users’ names, birthdays and locations, but also their political leanings based on how they interact with the content, according to Jordon.
On TikTok’s side, a spokesperson said the concerns are “largely fueled by misinformation about our company.”
However, Jordon says the difference between the US version of TikTok and the version that ByteDance has released in China should be considered.
“There is a reason they limit their own people under the age of 14 to 40 minutes a day. And that’s the key to saying, hey, maybe we should do the same thing,” Jordon said.
