A new front is opening in the US war against TikTok: college campuses.
The China-based app has already been banned from all federal government devices and government devices in 31 states over data privacy concerns. Now the restrictions are extending to universities, with Auburn University, the University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M and others blocking the platform of schools’ Wi-Fi networks in recent weeks.
Such bans are possible because school policies allow the blocking of traffic to certain websites on campus Wi-Fi networks, measures that are generally reserved for harmful content and pornography. But those policies can also be extended to specific applications, which has been done in the past with platforms like the anonymous social media account Yik Yak.
Students at schools affected by the bans have already taken to TikTok to complain, using popular memes and viral sounds to speak up. “This regime is ridiculous”, a user wrote. others seem to be testing the limits of such policies: “I’m not allowed to post TikToks anymore, so let’s see if I can,” another user saying. “Do you see this video?” (The policies only prevent access to TikTok on school networks and do not prevent posting to the app using mobile data.)
Some Internet freedom advocates are also questioning the policies, mischaracterizing them as censorship. And others say such bans amount to complacency at a time when targeting Chinese technology is politically beneficial.
“This is an extension of the clumsy and extreme state actions we have seen taken against TikTok at the state level,” said Angelo Carusone, president of nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters for America. “The ban will be ineffective and does nothing more than score political points and tax an already flimsy infrastructure.”
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The university bans come amid a cascade of actions against TikTok in recent months by lawmakers who say its China-based parent company could collect sensitive user data and censor content that goes against the TikTok’s demands. Chinese Communist Party. In late December, Congress passed a measure banning the platform on all federal government devices, and similar bans were enforced in more than 30 states last year, including Maryland and Georgia.
Many Internet freedom advocates have highlighted the irony of states and schools supposedly fighting Chinese censorship. censoring these apps themselves.
“If it weren’t so alarming, it would be hilarious that US lawmakers are trying to ‘get tough on China’ by acting exactly like the Chinese government,” said Evan Greer, deputy director of nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future. “This is classic state-backed internet censorship.”
While state and school device bans are easier to implement, university measures will be much more logistically difficult, experts say, as students can still easily get around them using mobile data.
“This specific ban is likely to be hardly an inconvenience for students subject to it, and it would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, both technically and ethically, to force students to use TikTok on their own personal devices,” said Mike Parkin, senior technical engineer at cybersecurity firm cybernetic vulcan.
This could also cause data networks to clog up on campuses, causing student devices to run slower and more inefficiently. TikTok spokesman Jamal Brown criticized the ban, warning there could be unintended consequences on students’ ability to share information and connect on campus.
“We are disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to promote cybersecurity in their states and are based on baseless falsehoods about TikTok,” he said.
Most of these bans were enacted by government-funded schools in states like Texas, where lawmakers are already waging political warfare against TikTok. This chapter marks just the latest example of the global culture wars raging on college campuses, Carusone said. Whether it’s the counterculture movement of the 1960s, the satanic panic of the 1980s, or the allegations of liberal indoctrination on college campuses that began in the 1990s and continue today, young people are often used as pawns in bigger political battles.
“College campuses can be an important front line for how the rest of the culture and the political landscape deal with the real problem,” he said. “Part of the reason that political figures feel like they can get away with this kind of thing is that they feel like there will be no political consequences, they think that young people have no political power.”
Carusone said the battle will only intensify in the coming months, as we move into a presidential primary season during which being “tough on China” is seen as beneficial to both Democrats and Republicans.
“This will be a new approach where everyone is trying to outdo each other,” he said. “It’s fertile ground, but TikTok is a red herring because such security concerns exist on all platforms. It ends up being a hyperpolitical issue that does not respond to real threats.”
The bans distract attention from the legitimate issues at hand, said Gillian Diebold of the Center for Data Innovation, including data privacy, application security and national security.
What would be most effective, he added, are measures like passing national data privacy legislation or requiring transparency about what data is collected and enforcing end-to-end encryption on all social media apps.
“Targeting just one app is not going to make a dent in fighting these real problems,” he said. “These issues exist across all social media apps, not just TikTok.”
