FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky General Assembly has passed a bill that would block TikTok from state government-issued devices.
Senate Bill 20 passed both the House and Senate as lawmakers cite cybersecurity concerns about the Chinese-owned social media app. The bill now heads to Gov. Beshear's desk for consideration.
"Most Chinese companies are connected, directed, or partially owned by the Chinese government," said Sen. Robby Mills, the bill's lead sponsor. "TikTok mines huge amounts of private data, which the Chinese government - a foreign adversary of the United States - would have access to."
"We need to protect the data that exists on state government devices," Mills added. "And one very practical way of doing this is to remove a known data mining app from all the state of Kentucky’s digital devices and computers, as this bill does."
Gov. Beshear has previously taken executive action to prohibit the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. The bill would place the ban into state law.
The ban does not apply to Kentucky's public universities and colleges.
