FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky General Assembly took a significant step towards blocking TikTok from state government-issued devices.
The Kentucky Senate easily passed Senate Bill 20 on Friday on a 31-0 vote. The measure will now head to the House.
Why TikTok? Lawmakers cited security concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app.
"Most Chinese companies are connected, directed, or partially owned by the Chinese government," said Sen. Robby Mills, the bill's lead sponsor. "TikTok mines huge amounts of private data, which the Chinese government - a foreign adversary of the United States - would have access to."
“We need to protect the data that exists on state government devices,” Mills added. “And one very practical way of doing this is to remove a known data mining app from all the state of Kentucky’s digital devices and computers, as this bill does.”
Kentucky's action on TikTok reflects a growing push among American lawmakers to block the social media platform from government devices, based on cybersecurity concerns. State governments and even Congress have acted to remove the app from government-owned devices.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently took executive action to prohibit the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. The bill would place the ban into state law.
What would Kentucky's ban extend to? The bill says TikTok would be blocked on any "network owned, operated, or otherwise under the control of the state government" or any "state government-issued device."
So, does the ban apply to Kentucky's public universities and colleges? Mills says no.
"The Commonwealth Office of Technology" does not control the devices - electronic devices - and the networks of UK, U of L, colleges and things of that nature."
