Fountain Hills bans TikTok on government-owned devices
Fountain Hills mulls ban of TikTok from town-owned devices
In the month since President Joe Biden signed a law that bans the use of any app by TikTok's China-based parent company on federal devices, a growing number of communities are following suit, including the town of Fountain Hills. FOX 10's Lauren Clark reports.
FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. - Fountain Hills is joining the growing list of municipalities banning TikTok from town-owned devices.
50 employees have all been forbidden to have the popular social media app on any device issued by the town. The restriction also applies to their private devices if they receive a stipend for it.
Some town leaders are calling the platform a time waster, as well as socially destructive and a security risk due to its ownership by a Chinese tech company.
"We don’t use it for marketing, we don’t use it in the town for any communications, so it was very easy to do," said one official.
The town says that at least 26 states have taken action against the app, either by banning its use or by suing the platform.
"According to Govtech.com, the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that Owner ByteDance Ltd. could share TikTok user data with China’s authoritarian government.," officials said. "U.S. officials also worry that the Chinese government might use TikTok to push pro-China narratives or misinformation."
In a statement to FOX 10, TikTok says in part that fears about its platform are not true, and it's "disappointed that so many elected officials are jumping on the political bandwagon.