GREENSBORO, N.C. — Republican House Majority Whip Jon Hardister of Guilford County and his colleague from Lincoln County, Jason Saine, just sent a letter to Governor Roy Cooper calling for him to ban TikTok on state owned devices. They are concerned about the popular app being owned by a Chinese company.
"This is imperative. This is really a national security matter,” Hardister said. “We're not talking about banning TikTok from a private device. But if you work for the US Government or the State Government, we don't need the Chinese government gathering intelligence that could compromise national security."
Governor Cooper has not yet responded to the lawmaker's request for a TikTok ban, but a spokesperson did write 2 Wants To Know, "The state is constantly updating guidance to ensure cyber security and is reviewing state government use of and security guidance surrounding TikTok."
Hardister says the General Assembly is willing to take the issue up themselves in a few weeks if the Governor doesn't act.
2 Wants To Know reached out to every state lawmaker from the Triad to see where they stand on the issue.
Republican Senator Vickie Sawyer wrote, “The safety of personal information for all NC is of foremost importance. I don’t say this often about New York and California, but they have been at the forefront of protecting their residents and I hope NC will follow suit.”
Republican Lee Zachary said “I don’t trust the Chinese. TikTok should be banned or bought by an American company.”
Republican Larry Potts said: “With the Chinese being as platform savvy as they are, it would appear we probably need to take some sort of action to protect our data.”
Democrats in North Carolina's General Assembly agreeing some sort of action should be taken, but they would like more research to "find the right solution."
"I probably would support that, but I would be more comfortable supporting that if we had perhaps a committee meeting where we discussed it," said Representative Pricey Harrison from Guilford County.
Harrison also worried TikTok is just the beginning. If you ban this, there could be another app pop up, kinda like playing whack-a-mole. So she would like to see a larger review of how state owned devices are used in general instead of just TikTok.
And Senator Michael Garrett said: "I do think we should follow the lead of the federal government because they have more resources and are more aware of the cyber threats and security threats."
This comes after last week when FBI director Christopher Wray also worried that the Chinese: "Have ability to collect data through it on users which can be used for traditional espionage operations."
TikTok denies it shares data with the Chinese government, telling CBS News, “The concerns driving these bans are largely fueled by misinformation about our company.”