HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The University of South Florida announced it will be blocking access to some applications, like TikTok, to conform to a Florida Board of Governors regulation.
Last week, the Florida Board of Governors approved an emergency regulation to block access to applications and social media platforms that they say put personal information and national security at risk.
"I was trying to go on TikTok earlier in the library and it wasn't loading. I was like oh, it's probably my Internet provider," said James Hendren, a USF student.
Students quickly realized TikTok no longer worked on the university's Wi-Fi network.
"Most of us, people like me that are not so big on TikTok, it's not a really big deal, you still have Instagram and Facebook which have their versions of TikTok," said Chris Jovanoski, a USF student.
According to an email sent to students, faculty, and staff, the measure will protect the school's infrastructure against potential cyber threats.
The university provided a list of apps it will block access to on university-owned devices or networks:
- TikTok
- Tencent QQ
- Vkontakte
- Kaspersky
Access to these applications through USF's wired and wireless networks from personal devices will be blocked unless an exception is granted under the regulation.
