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UT Austin Joins Red-State Universities in Blocking TikTok

The university will no longer allow people to use campus wifi to access TikTok, joining the University of Oklahoma and Auburn University as colleges adapt to executive orders.

The University of Texas at Austin has joined a slew of public colleges in banning TikTok from use on campus Wi-Fi as universities look to carry out red-state officials’ orders to restrict TikTok use on government networks. The University of Oklahoma and Auburn University both announced their plans to block TikTok on campus Wi-Fi days earlier, citing their respective governors’ executive orders to prevent use of the social media app on state networks and devices. “The university is taking these important steps to eliminate risks to information contained in the university’s network and to our critical infrastructure,” UT-Austin technology adviser Jeff Neyland wrote in an email to the Texas Tribune. More than half of the states, including some with Democratic governors, have banned use of the app on government devices as several governors look to weaken the app for apparent concern that the Chinese government will use the app’s data for nefarious purposes. The college-wide bans have kicked into gear in recent weeks, all landing in states run by Republican governors. “We're disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok,” a spokesperson for the platform wrote to the Tribune.