The order means that universities such as UH, Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin will no longer be able to use the social media platform to reach sports fans and prospective students. A UH System spokesperson said that the order has had minimal effect on university employees.
Abbott follows several other Republican state leaders in issuing bans of the app on government devices, stemming from fears that the Chinese government is harvesting customers' data. The governor has warned that TikTok is owned by ByteDance a Chinese company that is required to comply with any potential requests from its government to hand over data.
In Texas, the ban disallows state officers and employees from downloading or using TikTok on government-issued devices, including cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and other devices capable of connecting to the internet. Public university employees are included under the order, meaning professors who create viral instructional TikTok posts, sports programs and admissions offices will no longer be able to use the platform.
The order contains some wiggle room, allowing exceptions for law enforcement investigations and other "legitimate uses," according to Abbott's Dec. 7 letter informing heads of state agencies about the decision.
The UH System emailed student, faculty and staff employees about the ban on Dec. 9 and has since scanned 15,000 devices across its four universities, said Shawn Lindsey, associate vice chancellor of media relations. It found only six devices with the app installed, which was then removed.
UT-Austin also issued a directive to its employees on Friday, informing them to immediately remove TikTok from state-issued devices.
Texas A&M University similarly sent a notice to its employees Monday, ordering them to remove TikTok from university-owned devices, stop posting to TikTok on university accounts and remove links to TikTok from university webpages.
A&M's Technology Services department is also working to block and remove the app from certain devices and ensure compliance, according to the email.
For now, students and employees on college campuses can still access TikTok on their personal devices. It's unclear whether that will change — universities are awaiting guidance from the state next month about how to regulate the use of TikTok on state employees' personal devices.
That would have wider-reaching effects, possibly stretching to employees' personal devices that have access to university email accounts or restricting connectivity to TikTok on university wireless networks.
Once that plan is issued on Jan. 15, each state agency including public university systems will have until Feb. 15 to implement their own policies on the use of TikTok on personal devices.
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