TikTok at Work: Why Some Healthcare Workers Can’t Access It

Amid a continuing crackdown on TikTok, U.S. universities and their medical schools and related health systems have begun to restrict use of the popular social media platform.

Last week, President Biden signed legislation that could ban TikTok in the U.S., unless it is sold by Chinese owner ByteDance, due to national security concerns.

However, a bevy of universities across the nation had already taken action in the wake of a federal rule from June 2023.

For instance, Emory University in Atlanta announced earlier this month that, effective April 22, TikTok and ByteDance applications would be blocked on all of its business networks, including Emory Healthcare networks, with the exception of the guest network used by visitors and patients. The guest network “has additional restrictions that make it inappropriate for use by employees,” according to the university.

“The block is part of broader university-wide efforts led by the Emory Office of Research Administration to comply with a recent federal rule that affects individuals conducting research or other projects under certain government contracts,” Emory said.

In an online post addressing questions about the ban, Emory said that “while not specifically defined in this new rule, activities such as collecting or analyzing data and/or receiving/sending an email specific to the project/contract could be considered performing work [on a federally funded contract] on a device.”

A spokesperson for Emory further told MedPage Today in an email that “the network block was one of several steps Emory has taken as part of our good-faith efforts to comply with the federal interim ruling, following benchmarking with other organizations and institutions.”

Indeed, as of August 2023, dozens of universities across the U.S. were reported to have banned TikTok.

Among those on the list is the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, which banned TikTok in response to a state law that also references security concerns. In a message to all university employees last year, information officers for the university and UVA Health addressed employees’ use of a variety of mobile applications.

The message stated that, effective July 1, 2023, “Virginia law prohibits employees, agents, and contractors of public bodies from accessing, downloading or using any application or website developed by ByteDance Ltd. or Tencent Holdings Ltd. … on any government-issued device or government-owned or government-leased equipment (including mobile phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablets, or other devices capable of connecting to the Internet), or on any device while connected to any wired or wireless Internet network owned, operated, or maintained by the Commonwealth.”

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