Note: Click here to see the Louisiana Illuminator’s original reporting.
TikTok could soon be expelled from Louisiana’s colleges and universities under a bill advancing through the legislature.
House Bill 361, sponsored by Rep. Daryl Deshotel, R-Marksville, would ban the app on all state-owned devices and state administered networks, meaning the popular video sharing app could soon be inaccessible on university WiFi.
Deshotel has pitched the bill as a security measure, pointing to FBI Director Christopher Wray’s warning earlier this year that China could use the app to control data from U.S. consumers, control software and drive political narratives.
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“This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government, and… it screams out with national security concerns,” Wray told the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in March.
“The risk of exposure to our constituents’ private data is too much and too high of a price to pay for the sake of a funny video,” Deshotel said Tuesday when he pitched the bill to the House Appropriations Committee.
The bill was advanced without objection from the Appropriations Committee and had previously been unanimously advanced from the House and Governmental Affairs Committee last month. It will next go before the House of Representatives for a floor vote, where it is likely to be approved.
If the bill passes through the legislature, it would take effect when it’s signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who previously ordered TikTok banned on all state-owned devices and networks under his control, meaning Louisiana’s 275,000 college students will likely be returning to a TikTok-free school in the Fall.
The bill has so far received no testimony in support or opposition. The public will next have the opportunity to comment on the proposal when it is heard in a Senate committee.
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The proposal would also ban any other app or service developed by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance Ltd, or entities the company owns.
Deshotel’s proposal carves out exceptions to the ban for academic uses of the app. The bill includes language that provides exceptions for “legitimate scientific, educational or law enforcement purposes” to be determined on a school-by-school basis.
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