By PAULINA MATA/Staff Writer, ANDREW VELARDE/Staff Writer
As of Jan. 17, students no longer can use TikTok with campus Wi-Fi due to Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent directive. TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance and over the years many have expressed concerns over the safety of the app.
TikTok allows users to create and share short-form videos. To strengthen Texas’s cybersecurity, Gov. Abbott ordered a ban against the app on government-issued equipment belonging to state agencies on Dec. 7, 2022.
“TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users’ devices—including when, where, and how they conduct Internet activity—and offers this trove of potentially sensitive information to the Chinese government,” Abbott said in a letter to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Speaker Dan Phelan and state agency leaders.
Many student organizations, such as sororities and sports teams, use TikTok to share videos and information. Though student organization accounts will not be banned, they no longer will be able to use university equipment and campus networks to upload or manage the accounts.
“UT Tyler is taking these important steps to eliminate risks to information contained in the university’s network and to our critical infrastructure,” Ona Tolliver, senior vice president for Student Success, said.
While some students find the ban relieving, as the app is known for its highly addictive scrolling feature that makes hours seem like minutes, others are not fond of the ban.
Students have found loopholes around the ban.
“This ban has definitely caused a lot of boring times when I have nothing to do on campus,” freshman Christopher Tate said. “Though I can still watch TikTok through my phone’s data and I’m sure there’s other loopholes as well.”
A way to avoid the block is to disconnect from the campus networks, Secure Air and Patriot Air. If there’s enough signal, students are able to upload and watch TikTok videos to their heart’s content. Or at least until their homework’s due dates pass.
Another loophole is to use a VPN, virtual private network. A VPN overrides the block on the public campus networks by using encryption which creates a secure and private network for the user.
“While I understand there are some privacy concerns with the app [TikTok],” junior Calen McCoy said. “I personally find this situation a little overblown by the government.”
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