TikTok will no longer be accessible on Clemson University’s campus network as of July 10, the school announced on Friday.
In an email, Clemson stated that faculty, staff, students and visitors would no longer be able to access the popular social media app while connected to the campus servers, both wired and on Eduroam Wi-Fi.
“This step allows the University to protect institutional resources and information while safeguarding the privacy of a wide variety of devices connected to the Clemson network,” the University wrote in its email statement.
With this new policy, Clemson joins numerous other colleges that have banned the social media platform on their campuses, including two other South Carolina universities — Coastal Carolina University banned the app in May, and Horry-Georgetown Technical College took similar action in March.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster also banned the application on state government devices last year, citing that “Federal law enforcement and national security officials have warned that TikTok poses a clear and present danger to its users” as justification for his action.
Various TikTok bans have emerged across the nation in recent years, as well.
Currently, at least 34 states have TikTok bans similar to South Carolina’s, in which the use of the app is prohibited on government-issued devices. In May, Montana became the first, and currently, only, state to ban TikTok entirely when the state’s governor signed legislation forbidding application stores from offering the app in the state by 2024.
The heightening bans on TikTok come out of concern that the app, which is owned and operated by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd, is collecting sensitive U.S.-user data and information and sharing it with the communist Chinese government, according to the New York Times. Similarly, US officials are also concerned about China’s ability to relay Chinese propaganda to American users via the app, the AP reported.
Clemson University did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
