In a Dec. 7 news release, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that Texas state agencies are banned from using TikTok on any government-issued devices due to cybersecurity reasons.
To comply with the ban, the university issued a block from wired and wireless networks that became effective Dec. 20.
Kevin Crouse, chief information security officer, said the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese intelligence have direct links to ByteDance, a technology company in Beijing, China, that owns TikTok.
The reason there is a national security concern is because under the 2017 National Intelligence Law in China, all corporations must cooperate with Chinese intelligence and give them access to any data they request, according to Crouse.
“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” the news release states.
In a Dec. 9 email to the campus community, the UTRGV Information Security Office and the Office of the Chief Information Officer wrote that several steps would be taken to comply with the order.
Gov. Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Information Resources to “develop a model plan for other state agencies that would address vulnerabilities presented by the use of TikTok on personal devices by January 15, 2023,” the news release states.
State agencies will then have until Feb. 15 to implement their own policy governing the use of TikTok on personal devices.
“We don’t know for sure yet, because we have not seen any drafts of the model plan,” Crouse said. “So we don’t know if there’s going to be other social media or other kinds of devices or softwares or things like that, that they’re going to include.”
He said the university will communicate to students the reason why the governor banned TikTok and things to be careful of when it comes to data collection.
“There’s the data collection piece where not only can they collect the information that you’re doing on TikTok, you give them access to your camera, to your microphone and to your data,” Crouse
said. “So they’re winding up able to check and see what kind of web searches you do. They’re able to pull that information from
your phone.”
He said TikTok is also able to track a phone’s GPS data, an issue with any kind of social media platform.
The Dec. 9 email also states “any departments that are using TikTok accounts for school, work, or any other official UTRGV business purposes should contact University Marketing and Communications.”
Patrick Gonzales, UTRGV associate vice president for Marketing and Communications, said the department wants to make sure that any university entity that wants to keep its TikTok videos is able to do so before canceling its account.
Asked if the accounts will be deleted, Gonzales replied via email, “UTRGV departments using TikTok accounts for school, work, or any other official UTRGV business purposes should stop using the platform.”
He said the university does not want to put anybody in harm’s way because of privacy issues.
“I don’t think we’ll notice much of a difference as far as engagement,” Gonzales said. “But, again, if we’re being asked to do this for privacy concerns, then, obviously, I don’t think the benefits of TikTok outweigh ensuring the privacy of our university and our university community.”
Criminal justice freshman Randy Resendez believes otherwise. Resendez said students like to watch TikToks and videos posted by the university.
“People are still going to find a way to [use TikTok], like with their own data,” he said. “They want to see TikTok. They want to see what the university is going to tell them [through TikTok].”
For more information on the ban, visit Governor Abbott Orders Aggressive Action Against TikTok. Students can also call the Information Security Office at 665-7823 or email is@utrgv.edu.
