(Photo from Jared Polis’s TikTok account)
What do Democratic Senator Michael Bennet, Republican Congressman Ken Buck, and Denver’s city government all have in common?
They all support banning TikTok from government-owned devices due to fears that the Chinese Communist Party could use the app to spy on government officials or push narratives favorable to communist China.
In fact, the United States Senate voted unanimously this past December to ban TikTok from government devices and the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration took similar action almost two weeks later.
President Joe Biden sealed the deal at the end of December when he signed legislation that included language banning TikTok from federal government phones.
In Colorado, the City and County of Denver recently announced it will soon ban Tik Tok from city-owned devices due to cybersecurity concerns.
Unfortunately, Governor Jared Polis has refused to stand up to the Communist Party of China and ban TikTok on Colorado state devices, but the time has come for him to finally grow a backbone and take a stand.
Polis currently has a personal TikTok account and an official government TikTok account that he uses to post bizarre videos – like the one below – of himself spinning around in a chair like a child making disturbing faces.
While the governor may enjoy spending his time fishing for likes from strangers online, the People of Colorado should be very concerned that Governor Polis has a Chinese spy tool installed on his personal phone.
A Democratic governor banning TikTok from government devices would not be without precedent. Thirty one states across the country have banned the app, including three states governed by Democrats – North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kansas.
There’s even more at stake here for Governor Polis than simply the security of our state.
Polis’s presidential aspirations are no secret and with a new report out yesterday from Politico raising the possibility that President Biden may not run for reelection, the likelihood of a Polis presidential campaign are increasing by the day.
One major weakness for any potential Polis presidential run would be his total lack of foreign policy experience and walking around Iowa or New Hampshire with a Chinese spy tool in his pocket won’t exactly inspire confidence in the Governor’s already questionable judgement.
When asked recently about banning TikTok from state devices, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill told Colorado Politics: “State devices should be utilized for work purposes not for the use of social media apps unless they are needed to effectively perform your duties – this is standard practice in most private sector companies. The governor is currently reviewing best practices for social media usage on state devices to ensure that personal Tiktok, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media are not used on state devices except for legitimate state purposes.”
Let’s be realistic – no state employee needs to use TikTok to “effectively perform” their duties and there is no “legitimate” state purpose that would require the use of TikTok.
It’s time for Governor Polis to take cybersecurity threats from the Chinese Communist Party seriously and ban TikTok from state devices – and please, spare us the bizarre videos and delete TikTok from your personal phone while your at it, Governor.