Clemson Bans TikTok on Campus Servers

Observer Reports

Clemson University has joined a growing list of schools banning TikTok on campus WiFi servers. Clemson announced the move in an email to students, faculty and staff Friday, stating that no one will be able to access the app while connected to campus servers beginning Monday.

“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 email stated. Clemson joins Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College along with schools in more than a dozen other states which have banned the social media app. 

Tiktok was banned on all state government devices in South Carolina last year, after more than 35 other states instituted the bans. The app has been banned at United States government sites for more than three years.

Officials across the country have expressed concerns that the TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese-government owed ByteDance, Ltd., is collecting United States-users’ date and information and sharing it with the Communist Chinese government, which could be used for propaganda purposes to American users of the app.

TikTok has long denied such allegations and has tried to distance itself from ByteDance.

The ban only covers state and university/college WiFi networks. Students and other users can still switch to their cellular data to use the app. Banning any app is more complicated. Blocking TikTok from selling ads or pushing updates to the app would essentially make it nonfunctional.