With recent pushback against TikTok’s use in government institutions, many college campuses have been banning the platform off their networks. It is estimated that in the U.S. the social media platform TikTok had 113.3 million users aged 18 and over as of early 2023, according to Datareport.com.
At the beginning of TJC’s spring semester, students were introduced to a new Wi-Fi network. With this new network came questions on how the campus would handle the nationwide security concerns surrounding TikTok.
“Owned by a Chinese company that employs Chinese Communist Party members, TikTok harvests significant amounts of data from a user’s device, including details about a user’s internet activity,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a press release.
While previously only banned on college-owned devices, on Feb. 17 TJC announced TikTok is officially banned on its new networks per the directive from Abbott.
“TikTok will be blocked on all networks, so if a student is logged onto TJC-Secure or TJC-Guest the app will not load,” Kaytee Hassell, deputy chief information officer, said. “The one exception is residential halls, which is on a separate network.”
Residential halls will continue to be exempt from the policy even after its planned integration to the network in the summer, according to Hassell. Likewise, students will still be able to access the platform through personal data.
“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal for me because I normally don’t use their Wi-Fi,” Miguel Pinuelas, freshman mechanical engineering major, said. “I use my data mostly.”
TJC will continue to engage with Texas Department of Information Resources, other community colleges and their legal counsel in enacting and instituting new policies regarding the situation.
“There are still outstanding questions and the situation is still fluid,” Hassell said.
