TikTok Amongst Services Blacklisted by Nevada State Government for Security Reasons

NEVADA – Nevada state government devices have blacklisted the popular social media app TikTok, according to a memo sent to state employees this month. The move is part of the ongoing efforts to protect state data and infrastructure.

The new standard, which prohibits the use of blacklisted software and applications on state-owned devices, was confirmed by Elizabeth Ray, a spokeswoman for Governor Joe Lombardo’s office. The state has a zero-tolerance policy for those who present a known security risk.

The memo also states that any apps, software, or hardware that poses a risk to the state’s data and infrastructure can be added to the list of prohibited services.

TikTok has been the subject of a debate in the federal government over whether its owner, ByteDance, has given the Chinese government access to US data. In addition to TikTok, the inaugural blacklist for the state of Nevada includes products from Alibaba, Hangzhou, Huawei Technologies and Tencent Holdings, all based in China.

Other blacklisted services include Grammarly, a popular browser extension that helps users check for spelling and grammar errors, and Kaspersky, a Russia-based anti-virus provider.

The full list of blacklisted services includes Alibaba products, China Mobile International USA Inc., China Telecom (Americas) Corp., China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited, Dahua Technology Company, Grammarly, Department of Administration 2 Enterprise IT Services Division, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Huawei Technologies, Hytera Communications Corporation, Kaspersky, Pacific Network Corp/ComNet (USA) LLC, Tencent Holdings (including Tencent QQ, QQ Wallet, and WeChat), TikTok, and ZTE Corporation.

Credits: News3LV