19 states have banned TikTok on government devices over national security concerns

Nineteen U.S. states have now banned TikTok on government devices due to national security concerns about Chinese Communist Party access to U.S. data.

The states are Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Indiana became the first state to sue TikTok over its data collection and sharing practices, and other states may soon follow suit.

The moves could be the first step to a larger ban of the app, which is used by millions of mostly younger Americans to share videos and to communicate.

TikTok said in December that it was "disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States."

Congress has been considering a federal ban on the use of TikTok on government devices but has not yet voted to do so.