TAMPA, Fla. — TikTok and other Chinese apps are now banned from Florida schools and government servers. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill on Monday to protect users’ private information.

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning TikTok from universities and government servers on Monday 
  • The goal is to protect users’ personal information
  • University students who scroll thorugh TikTok while on the school's Wi-Fi say nothing shows up on the screen

Hunter Jensen uses TikTok every day. Whether it’s scrolling through videos, or making one of his own.

“It’s a montage of my life — just what the day is bringing about and kind of just everything that I find interesting,” he said.

Within seconds of opening the app, he has access to an unlimited amount of information and videos at his fingertips.

“Well, for us, it’s a way to get news, so when we go to TikTok we see what’s going on in the world unfiltered, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. And at the same time they can learn different things,” he said.

Hunter just graduated over the weekend from the University of South Florida. He says the app was a useful educational tool for him.

“Considering I was in political science, I get a lot of politics and current events on my TikTok feed so you can dive deep into what’s going on in the world,” he said.

After DeSantis signed the bill Monday, Hunter lost access to TikTok at the Sarasota-Manatee USF campus where he studies, even though he was connected to the school’s Wi-Fi.

“Right before class started, I was hooked up to my USF Wi-Fi and noticed that my feed wasn’t working,” he said. “How many other apps are selling our data without us knowing? There are already so many lawsuits out there selling our data without our permission, so what makes this any different?” he said.

Hunter says he is neutral, seeing both sides to it being a positive and a negative.

“I definitely see where they are coming from with getting rid of it from the platforms at the same time, though. As a student, if you are a freshman, it will impact you because you will use the dorm Wi-Fi than an upperclassman would,” he said.

He hopes since TikTok is banned, there will be another app to fill the void.

“I hope they can come to an agreement if they are going to ban TikTok. There needs to be another platform in place to accommodate for the loss of information sharing we have with TikTok. I think a lot of students like TikTok — its easily able to share information with your peers,” he said.