On December 28th, 2022, an official copy of a letter sent to Governor Roy Cooper was published on NC Representative Jon Hardister’s social media accounts. It is a joint letter from both NC House Majority Whip Jon Hardister, and NC Representative Jason Saine. Hardister, who recently announced his candidacy for NC Department of Labor Commissioner, has agreed to an exclusive interview to answer a few questions regarding the letter. Jason Saine and his legislative office has not officially responded despite directly reaching out via phone.
To summarize the original executive order request, the letter urges the Cooper administration to issue an executive order to ban the TikTok application from all government-owned electronic devices within the state of North Carolina. It states great concern regarding it being an economic and security threat for North Carolina. The request mentions how several other states have already taken this action and is a matter of national security. It is also mentioned that if no executive order is issued, that they will work on banning the application on government devices during the 2023 legislative session.
The following is the response of NC House Majority Whip, Jon Hardister, regarding the executive order request. When asked what made them decide to act on TikTok usage on government devices in the state, Jon Hardister said their goal is “to prevent the application from being used on government-issued devices that, if infiltrated, could pose a risk to national security.”
Cyber security experts have advised them of the importance of protecting classified data, and strongly recommend that TikTok shouldn’t be used on government-issued devices. Usage of the app could result in infiltration from a foreign country. Especially China, as they are constantly exploring ways to access the intellectual property of American citizens. TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and we have every reason to believe that the Chinese government is using the application to gain access to proprietary information.
Jon wanted to mention that they are not targeting private usage of the app on the devices of civilians, only devices that are government-issued. Although he personally hasn’t used TikTok, he understands how people enjoy the creative content on the application.
“If people want to use TikTok on their private devices, that is their prerogative to do so. However, given the risk of espionage from China, we should not allow the application to be downloaded onto a government device.”
When asked what he considers the most dangerous aspect about the application, he stated the following: “The most dangerous aspect is the fact that TikTok is owned and operated by a Chinese company. If the application is downloaded to a device, it could give the Chinese government an inside track to access information on that device. That is why we want to ensure that TikTok is not used on government-issued devices, which could contain sensitive information that should not be accessed by a foreign nation. In other words, we want to make it more difficult for China to spy on our government.”
When asked if he wanted to say anything further about how the Chief Administration Officer of the United States Congress has recently banned TikTok on devices owned by staff members of Capitol Hill, he wrote that “If Congress is taking this action, it shows that this is a serious problem. Several other state governments are taking action as well. North Carolina needs to get on board and do what is necessary to protect our national security.”
At the time of the interview, no official response was given yet by the governor. Jon Hardister said that regardless of what the Governor decides to do, the General Assembly will work on banning TikTok on government devices “with the intention of enacting common-sense laws that promote cyber security on all government devices. This is something that we plan to discuss in a couple of weeks when we go back into the session”. Fortunately, our Governor decided to accept the executive order request. On January 12th, Roy Cooper announced that he was going to act regarding on issue and signed an executive order. Hardister showed gratitude on his social media accounts, thanking the governor for taking initiative and issuing guidelines to ban TikTok on government devices.
It is important to reach out to your North Carolina State Representatives and keep track of what goes on in our state government. You can find the contact information about your district’s representative and the current activity of the Legislature on the official website for the North Carolina General Assembly. Those interested in politics can also learn about page and internship programs.
