By: Lex Wedgworth
On Dec. 12, 2022 Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced the ban of TikTok on state devices and networks. “Protecting Alabamians’ right to privacy is a must, and I surely don’t take a security threat from China lightly” said the Gov. Ivey on Twitter. Shortly after, Auburn University, along with its sister schools Southern Union State Community College (SUSCC) and Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM), also banned the mobile app on its university Wi-Fi and on-campus housing. This all went down last year when federal officials called the app a national security threat.
Now with Spring semester underway, AUM students with social media having such a huge impact on just about everything these days, one could imagine that most students are certainly not happy with this decision. According to al.com, “With more than one billion users, TikTok — owned by the Chinese company ByteDance — is one of the world’s most popular social networks” (Griesbach). There have been many issues and complaints around campus involving students saying that it is still working on their phones while others say that they have no access, and the cyber-block is in full effect.
The Washington Post recently came to AUM to interview one of our associate professors named Dr. Hilary Gamble. In this article The Washington Post wrote, “Hilary Gamble, an associate professor at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama, had for months seen TikTok as a powerful teaching tool for students in her classes on media and culture” (Harwell). This proves another renowned point that even some of the faculty are not happy with this decision to ban the popular app.
So much is happening around the United States in 2023 but this local and possibly national dilemma could be making it to the top of the totem pole. In the coming weeks one could imagine we will see if AUM, along with Auburn University and SUSCC rethink their decisions to ban TikTok.
Works Cited
Maheshwari, Sapna. “Auburn Banned TikTok, and Students Can’t Stop Talking about It.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Jan. 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/15/business/auburn-tiktok-ban-students.html.
Mealins, Evan. “Alabama among Latest to Ban TikTok on State Networks, Devices.” Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery Advertiser, 14 Dec. 2022, https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/local/alabama/2022/12/14/alabama-joins-wave-of-states-to-ban-tiktok-on-state-devices-networks/69728345007/.
Hester, Zach. “Governor Ivey Bans TikTok on State Devices, Network.” WHNT.com, WHNT.com, 15 Dec. 2022, https://whnt.com/news/alabama-news/governor-ivey-bans-tiktok-on-state-devices-network/.