JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — TikTok may soon be banned from state government devices and school campuses in Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis is proposing what he's calling a Digital Bill of Rights. The proposal would ban TikTok and other social media platforms with ties to China from state government devices and internet services at public schools, colleges and universities. It would also aim to have technology companies disclose some information and prohibit state and local government workers "from coordinating with Big Tech companies to censor protected speech."
The Digital Bill of Rights would require Google and other large search engines to "disclose whether they prioritize search results based on political or ideological views or monetary consideration," according to the governor's office.
There's been increasing scrutiny over TikTok. In December President Joe Biden approved a TikTok ban on federal government workers' agency-issued devices when signing a government spending bill. That same month, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp banned TikTok and the messaging apps WeChat and Telegram from all devices controlled by state government. Then Georgia public colleges banned the app on school-owned devices.
In January officials with the University of Florida sent out a campus-wide email discouraging those on campus from using TikTok, stating that the app is a "national security concern" and "foreign governments may use TikTok to control data collection, influence TikTok's recommendation algorithm and compromise personal devices."
Florida's Department of Financial Services has not allowed workers to download the app on department-issued devices since 2020.
The governor's proposal states as one of the points in its list that it would create the right to have in-person conversations without "Big Tech" surveillance.
"We want to protect your right as a Floridian to have private, in-person conversations without Big Tech surveilling you," DeSantis said Wednesday at a press conference in West Palm Beach announcing the proposal. "If you want to consent to let them have this information so they can fashion advertising based off of it, it's your right to do so."
This proposal is for the legislative session beginning next month.
TikTok reportedly has more than one billion users worldwide, the company stating it surpassed one billion in 2021, five years after its launch. Pew Research Center finds 67 percent of American teenagers use TikTok.