BOCA RATON, Fla. — State public universities, including Florida Atlantic University, have banned TikTok and some other social media apps from their campus WiFi networks and university-owned devices after an emergency amendment passed by the Florida Board of Governors last week.
Other schools in the state system putting the ban in place are Florida International University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, Florida State University, the University of South Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida A&M University, the University of West Florida, the University of North Florida, New College of Florida and Florida Polytechnic University.
"In accordance with a memo from the chancellor of the State University System (SUS) of Florida Board of Governors (BOG) regarding Emergency Regulation 3.0075, Florida Atlantic is taking immediate actions to protect the University from potential threats posed by certain applications or websites of concern," FAU wrote in an email to students, faculty and staff Wednesday.
Some schools announced the changes earlier in the week.
Eric Joseph, a student at FAU, said he won't lose any sleep over the ban.
"Because the algorithm and it takes all your information and shows you what you want to see," he told WPTV's Todd Wilson. "So, instead of, like, doing work, you're like there swipe, swipe, swipe, swipe.
Julia Dunning, another student, believes the ban is a waste of time.
"We've already heard people talking and people are already upset," she said. "I don't know why. I think that it's kind of weird that Florida's doing it in general. I have learned a lot from TikTok, not just entertainment, but I've learned stuff."
Besides TikTok, also prohibited are Wechat, Vkontakte (VK), Kaspersky, and QQ (Tencent QQ).
In its email, FAU listed the following restrictions:
- Blocking access to applications from all FAU networks, including wireless and residential halls.
- Blocking access to the applications from university-owned devices where possible.
- Preventing installation of the applications on university-owned devices where possible.
- Removing applications from university-owned devices where possible
FAU said these restrictions apply to employees using university-owned devices, including laptops, desktops, cellphones and tablets.
Personally owned devices are not subject to these restrictions when used off-campus, FAU said, but they will be blocked while devices are in use on FAU campuses or when connected to the university's VPN.
TikTok, a short-form video-sharing app that allows users to record and edit content, is owned and operated by the company ByteDance, headquartered in Beijing.
There are concerns the Chinese government could order ByteDance to hand over the data it collects about its users.
"This goes a little bit beyond TikTok in the way that it identifies any foreign actors who own access to data and who are also identified as a national security risk," Board of Governors member Alan Levine said during a Strategic Planning committee meeting last week.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Feb. 15 proposed to ban access to the TikTok platform on any government-issued devices and the networks that serve them across Florida through a "digital bill of rights" for Floridians.
The White House announced on Feb. 27 that federal agencies have 30 days to remove TikTok from all government-issued devices after the No TikTok on Government Devices Act was passed by the Senate in December.