Lewis County commissioners on Tuesday will consider a resolution “prohibiting the download, use and access of TikTok social media app on Lewis County electronic devices and networks,” according to a meeting agenda.
The federal government and 25 states have already instituted similar bans, most recently Kentucky, North Carolina and Wisconsin. The FBI alleged in November that the app poses national security concerns.
The county’s resolution notes the app, which has 135 million users in the United States, is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company.
The resolution is likely to pass. Lewis County Commissioners Lindsey Pollock and Scott Brummer expressed support for the resolution, which will be entertained in the county’s weekly business meeting. The third commissioner, Sean Swope, while not reached for comment before The Chronicle’s press deadline, was the one who brought “forward his concern with TikTok,” Pollock said.
Because the county does not utilize the platform as a communication method, Pollock said, combined with concerns about cybersecurity and the “negligible impact of preventing download to TikTok to county equipment, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Brummer said the county takes data-mining and cybersecurity seriously, and with TikTok’s policies “that could lead to compromised information, such as passwords being harvested … we are prohibiting the use on county-owned devices and the county network.”
Pollock said it’s possibly they will revisit the topic in the future, and Brummer added employees are free to use the app on their own devices and networks.
“ByteDance may gain control of crucial user information stored on mobile devices through TikTok's broad data collection policies, including internet browsing data, keystrokes, and location information,” the resolution states. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned these practices may be used to influence Americans or control or compromise software on millions of devices.”
It continued, stating TikTok appears to have the ability to track user data regardless of whether those interacting with it have an account. Therefore, the resolution would prohibit the app and TikTok website on government-issued devices, including cellphones, laptops and any device capable of connecting to the internet.
The change would be incorporated into the Lewis County employee handbook and technology policies.
The Board of County Commissioners meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the commissioners' hearing room on the third floor of the Lewis County Courthouse.
