Last updated on February 17, 2023
Graphic by WAPT
Ayliahna Wilson
Staff Writer
Students at Jackson State University received an email from Jackson State University IT Support announcing a ban on the use of Tik Tok on University owned devices effective immediately.
The email read: Effective January 30, 2023, access to the social media app and website TikTok will be blocked on all Jackson State University (JSU) networks, wired and wireless in accordance with the following directive from Governor Tate Reeves.
The directive forbids the use of TikTok on all government-owned and state-owned devices. All JSU students and employees who utilize state-issued cellular phones, computers, and other wireless communication equipment should delete any apps or other software applications developed by ByteDance Ltd., which owns TikTok, by the end of the month. JSU will continue to take steps to ensure compliance with this order and will provide updates as they occur.
This came as a huge surprise to many individuals across campus.
According to the directive from Gov.Reeves, this ban was set in place in order to protect the United States information and infrastructure from the app which is based in China.
With the ban, the governor believes Mississippi and the U.S. can better protect themselves from getting personal information stolen from Americans and used against us in China because of concerns about Tik Tok tracking its users.
“It’s no secret that the Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to steal U.S. intellectual property and Americans’ personal information. It’s a major threat to our national security and critical infrastructure, costs the U.S. economy hundreds of billions annually, and jeopardizes American jobs,” said Governor Tate Reeves. “Mississippi isn’t going to sit around waiting for the Chinese Communist Party to steal our state government data, and that’s why I issued this directive. It will help us better protect our state’s sensitive information and critical infrastructure,” said the governor in the directive.
Some Jackson State students said that while they understand the severity of national security, they believed Mississippi has more important issues to tackle.
Tyshyia Frazier, a sophomore political science major from Florence, Miss., said that issues like the city of Jackson needing proper funding and a better water system were more important than banning Tik Tok.
“I am extremely upset. I feel like there are more important things to focus on besides students using Tik Tok. We have a lack of security, barely enough parking spots for students and potholes on every corner of campus,” Frazier said. “We also have strangers wandering around campus day and night, yet our school is worried about Tik Tok?”
She added, “If the people who are in charge of this school are worried about their students, social media should not be the first thing they turn to. They could be working on fixing the Wifi that goes out every week on campus instead.”
Jayden Mack, a sophomore business marketing major from Naperville, Ill., said it does not matter because it will have little to no effect on the students staying inside dorms on campus.
“Before the Tiktok ban, we already had numerous reasons not to stay on campus, such as problems with housing space, visitation policies, water issues, etc,” Mack said. “The school banning Tik Tok is just the icing on top because what if they decide to block other social media apps? There wouldn’t be anything you could do about it except accept it,” said Mack.
Although banned on campus, students still have access to the application using their own data and outside of campus in the city of Jackson.
The state of Mississippi was not the first state to issue the Tik Tok App ban from their servers. Both Alabama and Arkansas have issued bans as well.
Jackson State IT Chief Information Officer Deborah F. Dent, Ph.D., said that a lot of information is still being retrieved about the Tik Tok ban.
“As far as JSU, we are blocking access to Tik Tok at the network level. If you are connected to the internet or WiFi via the JSU network, you will not be able to access TikTok,” Dent said. “I will continue to seek information on the penalty for anyone who figures out a workaround.”
The Flash will continue to update this story as more information is released.
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