As of Aug. 8, people under a federal contract connected to Wichita State WiFi on any device, including personal cell phones, will no longer have access to viral video-watching and social media platform TikTok.
There have been discussions related to this issue since 2020 under the Trump Administration. During Feb. 2023, the White House administration banned the app’s usage for all employees.
The Federal Acquisition Clause was officially published on June 2, building on the February ban. The clause instructed all federal agencies, including universities, to remove TikTok from their networks and amend their policies to comply by June 3.
“These newly imposed restrictions will also require WSU to prohibit access to these apps on all university networks except in residence halls,” Lainie Mazzullo-Hart, the Director of Communications, said. “Students will continue to have access to TikTok on university networks throughout most of the residence halls.”
If students wish to continue to use TikTok while on campus, they will need to be connected to a personal hotspot.
“WSU remains committed to complying with all applicable laws, rules and regulations affecting our campus community,” Mazzullo-Hart said.
The ban stems from security concerns from the Chinese based parent app ByteDance.
FBI director Christopher Wray fears that the data collected from ByteDance will be shared with the Chinese government. Many, however, feel that these security concerns are less than they are made out to be.
“I think it’s a little more paranoid kind of concern,” Shocker Hall front desk employee Kenton Evans said. “But it makes sense to not have it on campus, just so students can put more effort into their actual work.”
Madison Miller, the Digital Content chairperson on the Student Activities Council (SAC) said that due to the ban, they are going to shift their focus to posting similar content on Instagram Reels and hope that the Instagram platform remains open to use.
SAC’s instagram content can be found at (@sac_wsu).
According to a news announcement by WSU News, the university will continue to update students, faculty and staff on TikTok related policy updates. Questions can be directed to [email protected].
