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Texas Guv Greg Abbott trolled for banning TikTok on state-issued devices: 'Big help when the power grid fails'

'TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users' devices -- including when, where and how they conduct internet activity,' Abbott said while banning the app

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) has directed state agencies to ban the use of TikTok on government-issued devices to “preserve the safety and cybersecurity of Texans." In a letter to Lt Gov Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dade Phelan and the leaders of state agencies on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, Abbott said “TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users' devices -- including when, where and how they conduct internet activity -- and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government.”

Abbott further stated, "While TikTok has claimed that it stores US data within the US, the company admitted in a letter to Congress that China-based employees can have access to US data. It has also been reported that ByteDance planned to use TikTok location information to surveil individual American citizens. Further, under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, all businesses are required to assist China in intelligence work including data sharing, and TikTok’s algorithm has already censored topics politically sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party, including the Tiananmen Square protests.”

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Abbott also ordered direct joint action by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Information Resources to develop a model plan for other state agencies that would address vulnerabilities presented by the use of TikTok on personal devices by January 15, 2023. Each state agency will then have until February 15, 2023, to implement its own policy governing the use of TikTok on personal devices.

However, following the ban, social media users brutally trolled Abbott for his decision. One user said, "Greg Abbott hates free speech and the first amendment. Texas needs better." Another wrote, "I have a state-issued phone and I can’t even access the App Store on it. So this 'banning' of TikTok means nothing."

On the other hand, many users asked him to fix the power grid in the state first. Abbott faced continued criticism over his handling of the 2021 deadly power grid disaster in which a total of 246 people were killed, as per Kut. One wrote, "Lmao won’t fix the grid but will ban tiktok NICE." Another commented, "That'll be a big help when the power grid fail."

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