得克萨斯州州长格雷格·阿博特(Greg Abbott)周三指示州政府机构禁止在政府发放的设备上使用社交媒体平台抖音，原因是担心中国拥有的应用程序处理美国基础设施和其他敏感信息的数据。
“抖音从其用户的设备中收集大量数据——包括他们在何时、何地以及如何进行互联网活动——并将这些潜在敏感信息的宝库提供给中国政府，”雅培周三在一封给州官员的信中说。
由于担心美国数据可能落入中国政府手中，抖音面临着州和联邦官员越来越多的审查。
印第安纳州总检察长托德·罗基塔(Todd Rokita)周三起诉抖音，称其涉嫌在中国政府获取用户数据的能力方面误导用户，并向未成年人显示成人内容。这标志着第一个针对该应用程序的州诉讼。
印第安纳州起诉该公司后，抖音向ABC新闻提供了一份声明。
“虽然我们不评论未决诉讼，但我们社区的安全、隐私和安保是我们的首要任务。我们将青少年福祉纳入我们的政策，根据年龄限制功能，为父母提供工具和资源，并继续投资新的方式来享受基于年龄适宜性或家庭舒适性的内容。声明称:“我们也相信，在与美国政府的谈判中，我们正走在一条完全满足所有合理的美国国家安全关切的道路上，我们已经朝着实施这些解决方案迈出了重大步伐。”。
周二，马里兰州州长拉里·霍根(Larry Hogan)宣布了一项类似的禁令，禁止抖音以及华为和中兴等中国科技制造商在州商务中使用手机。
在回应霍根禁令的一份声明中，抖音在给ABC新闻的一份声明中说:“我们认为推动这些决定的担忧主要是由关于我们公司的错误信息引发的。我们很高兴继续与州决策者进行建设性的会谈，讨论我们的隐私和安全实践。我们感到失望的是，许多国家机构、办公室和大学将不再能够使用抖音来建立社区和联系选民。”
上个月，联邦通信委员会的一名专员呼吁美国政府禁止社交媒体平台。
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a 'Get Out The Vote' rally at the Fuzzy's Pizza & Italian Cafe, on Oct. 27, 2022, in Katy, Texas.
布兰登·贝尔/盖蒂图片社
据《纽约时报》9月份报道，拜登政府和抖音起草了一份初步协议，以解决该应用程序带来的国家安全问题，但谈判仍存在障碍。
抖音说，它存储了中国以外的美国用户的数据，而且从未应中国政府的要求从该平台上删除美国的帖子。
最近的新闻报道对用户数据的安全性提出了质疑。
Buzzfeed据报告的今年6月，抖音驻中国的工程师获得了美国用户的隐私信息，比如电话号码。福布斯(美国出版及媒体集团)据报告的10月，抖音的母公司字节跳动打算使用该应用程序获取一些用户的信息。
特朗普政府试图禁止抖音在2020年，最终呼吁字节跳动将应用程序出售给一家美国公司。然而，出售从未发生。
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans TikTok on state devices
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies on Wednesday to ban the use of social media platform TikTok on government-issued devices over concerns about how theChina-owned app handles data on American infrastructure and other sensitive information.
"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," Abbott said in a letter to state officials on Wednesday.
TikTok has faced growing scrutiny from state and federal officials over fears that American data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued TikTok on Wednesday for allegedly misleading users about the Chinese government's capacity to access their data and showing mature content to minors. It marks the first state lawsuit against the app.
TikTok provided ABC News with a statement after Indiana sued the company.
"While we don't comment on pending litigation, the safety, privacy and security of our community is our top priority. We build youth well-being into our policies, limit features by age, empower parents with tools and resources, and continue to invest in new ways to enjoy content based on age-appropriateness or family comfort. We are also confident that we're on a path in our negotiations with the U.S. Government to fully satisfy all reasonable U.S. national security concerns, and we have already made significant strides toward implementing those solutions," the statement read.
On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced a similar prohibition on TikTok, as well as Chinese technology makers like Huawei and ZTE, from use on state business.
In a statement a response to Hogan's ban, TikTok said in a statement to ABC News: "We believe the concerns driving these decisions are largely fueled by misinformation about our company. We are happy to continue having constructive meetings with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices. We are disappointed that many state agencies, offices, and universities will no longer be able to use TikTok to build communities and connect with constituents."
Last month, a commissioner at the Federal Communications Commissioncalled on the U.S. governmentto ban the social media platform.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a 'Get Out The Vote' rally at the Fuzzy's Pizza & Italian Cafe, on Oct. 27, 2022, in Katy, Texas.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
The Biden administration and TikTok wrote up a preliminary agreement to address national security concerns posed by the app but obstacles remain in the negotiations, The New York Times reported in September.
TikTok says that it stores the data of U.S. users outside of China, and has never removed U.S. posts from the platform at the request of the Chinese government.
Recent news stories have called into question the security of user data.
Buzzfeedreportedin June that TikTok engineers based in China gained access to intimate information on U.S. users, such as phone numbers. Forbesreportedin October that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, intended to use the app to access information on some users.
The Trump administrationtried to banTikTok in 2020, eventually calling on ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company. However, the sale never took place.
