Following the lead of federal and state officials, Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer said Tuesday that he plans to issue an executive order banning the use of TikTok and other social media apps made by Chinese companies on all mobile devices issued by the city.
Concerns about TikTok and other social media apps originating in China have arisen in recent months with some tech experts asserting that the Chinese government could be in control of them, possibly using them to spread misinformation. In December, Congress passed legislation to ban the use of TikTok on all devices distributed to federal employees.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a series of executive orders on Sunday, including the one that bans any social media platforms by companies from China. According to the order, the ban includes but is not limited to the following apps: TikTok, Tencent QQ, Tencent Video, QQ International (QQi), Qzone, WeChat, Weibo, Xiao HongShu, Zhihu, Meituan, Toutiao, Alipay, Xiami Music , Tiantian Music, DingTalkfDing Ding, Douban, RenRen, Youku/Tudou, Little Red Book, and Zhihu. The governor’s order applies to all state agencies, but state universities in Ohio are exempt.
“I think it’s a good move on the governor’s part to do it,” Schertzer said. “I’m very much in favor of it at the statewide level. And I’m also in favor of bringing (the ban) down to the local level. In fact, we have had preliminary discussions with my safety director (Randy Caryer) and service director (Cathy Chaffin) and we have reached out to our IT department head (Jacob Bolden). Jacob has informed us that he thinks (TikTok) is already flagged by (the security software the city uses), so we want to take that next step to ban it.”
Schertzer said the language of the executive order is being drafted and he expects to meet with Law Director Mark Russell and city department heads on Jan. 18 to finalize the language before distributing it to city employees.
The mayor noted that discussions about banning social media apps that could potentially compromise the security of mobile devices owned by the city have not yet come before the Marion City Council. Schertzer noted that if the council wishes to discuss the matter prior to him issuing the executive order, he would be glad to inform them about the situation.
“It’s been banned at the federal level and the state level now, and I think that local governments will probably all follow suit because of the national implications that it could have,” Schertzer explained. “Let’s be honest, I don’t know that there are any national implications with city-owned devices and TikTok, but I think it’s just a good, smart thing to do to protect ourselves.”
Marion County Commissioner Mark Davis said the county government had already banned the use of TikTok or other suspect social media apps on county-owned mobile devices.
According to the website Government Technology, 23 state governments have banned TikTok and other mobile apps created by Chinese companies from being used on state-issued devices. Additionally, the Indiana Attorney General has filed two lawsuits against TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is based in the Chinese capital of Beijing.
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