TikTok banned on 200 city smartphones, 15 tablets

Following the leads of the Ontario and federal governments, the City of Sault Ste. Marie is banning the popular TikTok app from all city-owned devices.

"The city will be distributing and enforcing a policy banning the use of TikTok from city-issued smartphones and tablets and updating security policies on corporate firewalls blocking the download and usage of this application on city workstations and laptops," says Frank Coccimiglio, the city's manager of information technology.

"The city takes every measure possible to ensure the protection and privacy of municipal data," Coccimiglio says in a report prepared for next week's city council meeting. 

"With the growing concerns that the Chinese government has a stake in TikTok's owner ByteDance, and Chinese laws allowing the country to demand access to user data, it is in the city's best interest to ban the use of the TikTok application from all city devices," Coccimiglio says.

The decision applies to about 200 smartphones and 15 tablets.

Coccimiglio will tell city councillors that a mobile device management (MDM) solution could be deployed to ensure removal and future restrictions of TikTok, but it would cost about $30,000 a year.

City councillors will be asked to affirm his decision on Tuesday.

As SooToday has previously reported, Ward 4 Coun. Angela Caputo isn't so sure TikTok should be banned.

Caputo says the app could be useful to municipalities, especially for tourism promotion.

"It is recognized that the TikTok application could be a valuable component of a communications strategy and/or tourism campaign in the future," Coccimiglio says.

"Staff will continue to monitor the use of TikTok in the broader social media realm and, if circumstances warrant, will report back to council with recommendations for managed use of the application."

Next week's city council meeting will take place on Tuesday because of Easter Monday.

The meeting will be live-streamed on SooToday starting at 4:30 p.m.