COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Late Tuesday night the news broke that Texas A&M would be following in the footsteps of the University of Texas by blocking TikTok from the school's internet. It's in response to Governor Abbott's directive to block TikTok from all state-owned devices.
"I was shocked because TikTok is a big, big network and also a social media platform for a lot of influencers," Texas A&M Sophomore Liluyue Xu said. "You know, we have a lot of local influencers who make money or their living expenses off of TikTok."
The school told KAGS this when asked about the decision to block the app on their networks:
"Based on both state and federal orders and concerns, Texas A&M has blocked access to TikTok from state-owned devices."
However, some students are questioning those concerns.
"If the U.S. is worried about China taking our information, do we really not think that the U.S. is taking information from other countries?" Texas A&M Junior Makayla Chamberlain said. "It seems hypocritical. Like you can believe it from one point of view but not the other even though you're doing the same thing."
The app, which is available in over 150 countries, and has over 1 billion users, is largely known for its dance videos and skits. However, many use the app for much more than just entertainment to pass the time.
"I remember when I lived on campus, and I was just first starting to like cook on my own, I found a lot of my recipes like on TikTok and just liked seeing how things were made." Texas A&M Senior Cameron Alexander said. "So it's like students won't have access to that like if TikTok gets taken off campus."