App arguments App arguments

National TikTok bans could impact JMU

that information over,” Grant said.

Nineteen universities across 10 states have now banned TikTok for national security concerns — while not yet impacted, JMU could be affected soon as criticism for the app continues to pick up.

On Dec. 16, 2022, Virginia Gov. Youngkin (R) released an executive order banning TikTok and other applications owned by the Chinese company ByteDance from state government technology. Public universities aren’t currently affected by the order.

Other states, as well as individual schools, have taken action to ban the app on their devices. NBC News published a comprehensive list of public universities that have taken a wide variety of actions. Schools like Boise State University and the University of Oklahoma have banned the app on university networks, while others like Auburn University have only restricted the app on university-owned devices.

Several states that have instituted bans on TikTok have done so through executive orders from the state governors. Many of those executive orders cite security concerns over Chinese-owned apps.

“TikTok and WeChat data are a channel to the Chinese Communist Party, and their continued presence represents a threat to national security, the intelligence community, and the personal privacy of every single American,” Youngkin said in the press release for his executive order.

One bill being considered in Congress will open TikTok up to being banned by the president, according to CNBC. Opponents of the bill argue that a move to ban the app will censor Americans and go against the First Amendment.

Keith Grant, associate professor of political science at JMU, said TikTok could be a threat in terms of data collection. The app’s algorithm can figure out how to target a user’s beliefs and interests, and it collects physical data from user’s devices, such as location and contacts, and by default, has access to phones, microphones and files, Grant said.

“The concern is that it’s collecting more information than it really has a valid reason to,” Grant said.

National security law in China is one of the main concerns surrounding TikTok, opening the possibility that the government could obtain access to any data in the app, according to The Washington Post, and states that ban the app are concerned that any data it collects could be going straight to a foreign power.

“This is a company that, if it already isn’t working with Chinese intelligence, based on this law could be subjected to turning all

Universities have information that can be considered confidential including student records, financial and health information, and student and staff projects that are classified or sensitive, Grant said. He added there are reasons to be cautious about university security.

Official policies about the app will most likely be left to the states, Grant said. As a public university, JMU will have to follow state laws.

In December, the university posted a video to its official account, @jamesmadisonu on TikTok, saying they were “signing off (for now)” from the app. The video was captioned with a reminder to look at other social media accounts run by JMU.

Ginny Cramer, associate director of communications for JMU, said in a written statement to The Breeze that the university stopped posting on TikTok until the state further clarified that higher education institutions were exempt from the ban. The university will continue to follow guidance from the state regarding the app, Cramer said.

“There are many other social channels to communicate with our audiences, so we will continue to utilize those resources to share information,” Cramer wrote.

JMU posted its first Tik Tok since December on Feb. 22. Commenters addressed the absence of posts, stating they missed the account during its break. Since then, the university has continued to make posts on TikTok about life in Harrisonburg and studying at JMU.

Angelina Clapp, graduate assistant at the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement, said any further actions from the state would most likely affect university communications rather than student use.

“It’s harder and near to impossible to actually ban TikTok on individual devices,” Clapp said. “Students would have the ability to not use the university Wi-Fi if it were to be banned on university Wi-Fi.”

CONTACT Lizzie Stone at stone3em@dukes.jmu.edu. For more coverage of JMU and Harrisonburg news, follow the news desk on Twitter @BreezeNewsJMU.