Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order Wednesday, Dec. 28 banning the use of the video-sharing social media app TikTok from all state-owned devices.

The ban also prohibits access to the state network. It applies to all state-owned devices for Kansas executive branch agencies, boards, commissions and their employees.

The ban goes into effect immediately.

Kelly’s order is in response to warnings from the FBI and FCC that user data is potentially being shared with the Chinese government.

Kansas joins other states Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia. The federal government is also implementing the ban. The order does not apply to the Board of Regents, Regents Institutions, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of Secretary of State, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, the Office of the State Treasurer, the Department of Education, the Judicial Branch, nor the Legislative Branch of Government.

However, Gov. Kelly encourages other state agencies and departments to also impose a ban.

In a written release, Kelly said TikTok’s parent company poses both national and privacy risks to its users, as the company is subject to Chinese government requests for data, technology and other intellectual property.

“I am taking common- sense steps to protect Kansans’ privacy and security,” Gov. Kelly said. “TikTok mines users’ data and potentially makes it available to the Chinese Communist Party—a threat recognized by a growing group of bipartisan leaders across the United States.”

The ban does not address the use of TikTok by municipalities or local government agencies.

State policy already restricts the use of state devices to official business. The order will require the deactivation of any active official State of Kansas TikTok accounts and the removal of any TikTok applications from state-owned devices. Mechanisms will also be put into place to limit the ability to access the TikTok website from the State of Kansas OITS-managed networks and to prohibit the future installation of the TikTok app on OITS-managed state-owned/leased devices.

Entities will have 30 days from the effective date of Kelly’s Executive Order to implement remediation and blocking activities. After 30 days, the Kansas Security Office will begin to implement blocking on the State network.

Jeff Maxon, Kansas Chief Information Security Officer, said social media platforms collect a significant amount of amount of user data or have access to a significant amount of device resources and data.

“Individuals are often not aware of the breadth and depth of data that is being collected or the access that the application may have to phones,” he said. “Much of the data collected isn’t necessarily required for the state function of these applications but is collected for other purposes.”

Maxon said the potential ability for a foreign government to manipulate or use the collected data, or access devices, to track or influence Kansans is concerning.

“Limiting or restricting the use of an application like this is a simple step we can take to reduce any potential impacts on executive branch employees and citizens,” he said.