TikTok now banned on all La. Secretary of State’s Office devices, Ardoin announces

BATON ROUGE, La. (KSLA) - Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin announced Monday, Dec. 19 he’s banning TikTok on all state department-issued devices; he’s also calling on Governor John Bel Edwards to do the same.

The governors of Alabama, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Maryland, Texas, Utah, and Virginia have recently issued similar bans.

“As secretary of state, I have the serious responsibility of protecting voters’ personally identifiable information, which is why I have taken the step of banning the use of TikTok on all devices owned or leased by my agency. I wholeheartedly believe that doing so on a statewide level would protect our data and reaffirm our commitment to privacy protections for our constituents. Therefore, I urge you to issue a directive banning the use of TikTok on our state government’s devices with immediate effect,” Ardoin said in a letter sent to Gov. Edwards on Monday.

Ardoin’s announcement comes after the U.S. Senate voted to ban TikTok on all government devices. The bans are due to concerns about the app’s data collection and its ties to China.

FULL LETTER TO GOV. EDWARDS

Letter to Gov. JBE--12.19.22