The University of Arizona has joined Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University in banning the use of TikTok on university-managed devices.
“The University of Arizona is already in full compliance with the Biden Administration’s guidance and is working to block TikTok from university-owned personal computing devices,” UA spokesperson Nick Prevenas said in an email Monday evening.
The UA has not yet responded to questions about whether members of the campus community will be able to use campus WiFi networks to access the app on their personal devices.
In late February, President Joe Biden issued an executive order giving federal agencies and contractors — public universities fit into that description — 30 days to remove the TikTok app from government-issued phones and other devices. The order comes amid rising concern among state and local lawmakers that TikTok, an app owned by Chinese company ByteDance which allows users to make and share short videos, could be used to leak data to the Chinese government or to push pro-China narratives.
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At a congressional hearing last month about those concerns, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said TikTok is headquartered in Los Angeles and Singapore and doesn’t operate in mainland China. “We are committed to be very transparent with our users about what we collect,” Chew said at the hearing. “I don’t believe what we collect is more than most players in the industry.”
TikTok has now been banned on government issued phones of federal employees, a move they say is a cyber security measure. Now lawmakers are moving forward with a bill to ban the social media platform nationwide. Recently the CEO of TikTok went before a house committee to answer questions related to app, with representatives suggesting TikTok’s majority stakeholder, ByteDance, could be compelled by the Chinese government to turn over user data no questions asked, censor information critical of their government or alter the algorithm to exert control over Americans.
But with Biden’s executive order in place, numerous public universities have moved forward with banning TikTok from university-owned devices, also including Florida State University, the University of Texas at Austin and Auburn University in Alabama.
ASU’s ban went into effect on Monday. According to a report from The Arizona Republic, members of the campus community, including students, will still be able to access TikTok via their personal devices. An ASU spokesperson also said the university is eliminating its main account on the app, @arizonastateuniversity, which could not be found as of Tuesday.
At NAU in Flagstaff, it’s a similar story. While TikTok has been removed from all university devices, anyone is still free to use campus WiFi to access the app on their personal device.
The University of Arizona’s main TikTok account, @uarizona, which has 31,600 followers, was still live as of Tuesday afternoon, as were multiple other UA-branded accounts.
Pima Community College has not taken a position on the use of TikTok on its campuses.
“We are closely watching legislative developments at both the state and federal levels,” said Libby Howell, a PCC spokeswoman. “But we feel that should TikTok be banned by either the Arizona Legislature or Congress, or by executive order, there are other social media that could easily take TikTok’s place.”
Kathryn Palmer covers higher education for the Arizona Daily Star. Contact her via e-mail at kpalmer@tucson.com or her new phone number, 520-496-9010.
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