TikTok banned from school-owned devices at all Florida state universities

New York CNN

State University System of Florida Board of Governors banned TikTok and other social media apps, as well as some software, applications and developers from using university-owned devices due to a 'continuing and increasing landscape of cybersecurity threats'

In a memo to the presidents of state university systems on Wednesday, Ray Rodrigues stated, "This regulation requires that institutions remove technologies from university-owned devices published in State University System's (SUS's) Prohibited Technologies List and block network traffic related to these technologies."

The memo stated that the ban was effective immediately.

The Board of Governors stated in a CNN statement that 'data privacy, especially concerning student data and research by faculty, is a crucial priority for the State University System of Florida'.

According to the Board of Governors: "Therefore, during a meeting of the Florida Board of Governors on March 29, the Board unanimously adopted an emergency regulation that prohibits the use of TikTok, and other foreign actors that are identified as an immediate threat to national security, across all 12 public university campus."

The prohibited technologies are not limited to TikTok. They also include Kaspersky Anti-Virus, Tencent QQ and WeChat, as well as any subsidiaries or affiliates.

CNN contacted them to get their comments.

Hilary McQuaide, spokesperson for TikTok, said that 'TikTok took unprecedented steps to address national-security concerns by securing U.S. users data on U.S. land. It is best to protect U.S. data and systems with a transparent U.S.-based approach, with third-party monitoring and verification. We are already doing this.

McQuaide said that 'TikTok' is used by more than 150 millions Americans, including students at universities and colleges and teachers in the classroom.

As concerns about privacy, national safety and child protection grow, the US and Europe have increased their bans and regulations on social media sites, including TikTok.

The Utah governor signed a law late last month that requires teens to obtain parental permission before using social media. The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office (which regulates data) fined TikTok earlier this week for several breaches of the data protection laws. Italy is investigating TikTok over 'dangerous contents'