US: Georgia Gov Brian Kemp bans China-owned TikTok in Peach State executive agencies

The governor sent a memo to all the heads of Georgia state agencies Thursday outlining his concerns over the platform's links to the Chinese Communist Party and its potential threat to national security, reports Fox News.

"The State of Georgia has a responsibility to prevent any attempt to access and infiltrate its secure data and sensitive information by foreign adversaries such as the CCP," Kemp wrote as quoted by the news channel.

"The CCP poses an ever-present national security threat to the United States and Georgia. As such, it is our duty to take action to preserve the safety and security of our state against the CCP, entities it controls, and other foreign cyberthreats," Kemp wrote.

"Effective immediately, all Georgia executive branch agencies, departments, divisions, bureaus, boards, authorities, and commissions are prohibited from using TikTok, WeChat, and Telegram on all systems and devices that are issued, owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by the state or used for state business," the memo states. 

Kemp's action follows similar executive orders signed by Republican governors who have called TikTok a cyber and national security threat, reports Fox News.

US Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) has described China-owned video-sharing app TikTok as an enormous threat to America's privacy.

He also warned parents against allowing their children to download the app on their phones.

"Well, I think Donald Trump was right. I mean, TikTok is an enormous threat," Warner told Fox News.

"So, if you're a parent, and you've got a kid on TikTok, I would be very, very concerned. All of that data that your child is inputting and receiving is being stored somewhere in Beijing," Warner said.

TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.