Sheesh, it took him long enough, but at least it finally happened. Governor Youngkin announced late last night that TikTok and WeChat are banned on state devices:
“TikTok and WeChat data are a channel to the Chinese Communist Party, and their continued presence represents a threat to national security, the intelligence community, and the personal privacy of every single American,” Youngkin said. “We are taking this step today to secure state government devices and wireless networks from the threat of infiltration and ensure that we safeguard the data and cybersecurity of state government.”
This follows highly publicized bans of a similar nature by many other governors. WAVY-10 is relatively left-leaning, so I’m not surprised that they pointed out “Republican governors” in the article, but at least they showed Mark Warner’s agreement with Governor Youngkin.
My kids routinely keep me informed on the social media use of their peers, and TikTok is still quite common. No huge surprise, what America sees on TikTok vs what China sees is strikingly different:
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6309696840112
I have plenty of people saying we need to be on TikTok in order to reach our kids. For normal social media, that would be true. If you let your kids go on Facebook, you should be on Facebook. Same with Instagram, or SnapChat, or whatever else. However, TikTok isn’t fair. Not that any social media is, but TikTok has the weight of a nation four times our size whose government hates our guts and wants us dead. Do you really think anything good will come of you or your family members being on there?
Would you accompany your son to a strip joint in order to “meet them where they are at?” What about your daughter? That’s essentially what you do by allowing them on TikTok. Not only that, but you directly expose yourself and your data to Chinese foreign agents. None of that is good. Stay off TikTok, and if you can, ban it on your home network as well.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.
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