North Carolina SB 408: No High Risk Apps/Gov't Networks and Devices.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 3
SENATE BILL 408
Judiciary Committee Substitute Adopted 4/30/25
Third Edition Engrossed 5/7/25

Short Title: No High Risk Apps/Gov't Networks & Devices. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
March 25, 2025
*S408-v-3*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT PROHIBITING THE USE OF TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES. 2
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
SECTION 1. Article 10 of Chapter 143 of the General Statutes is amended by adding 4
a new section to read: 5
"§ 143-162.11. Prohibition on the use of TikTok and other applications. 6
(a) No employee of the State or of a local political subdivision of the State shall download 7
or use a covered application or access the website of a covered application on or using any 8
government-issued device or information technology. 9
(b) No person contracting with the State, or with a local political subdivision of the State, 10
may access, download, or use a covered application on equipment owned or leased by the State 11
or by a local political subdivision of the State. 12
(c) No person may access, download, or use a covered application on any 13
government-issued device. 14
(d) State agencies and local political subdivisions of the State shall restrict access to the 15
websites of covered applications on government-issued devices and information technology. 16
(e) The following definitions apply in this section: 17
(1) Covered application. – Any of the following applications or services: 18
a. TikTok or any successor application or service developed or provided 19
by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited. 20
b. WeChat or any successor application or service developed or provided 21
by Tencent Holdings Limited or an entity owned by Tencent Holdings 22
Limited. 23
(2) Device. – Any cellular phone, desktop computer, laptop, or other electronic 24
device capable of connecting to the internet issued by the State or by a local 25
political subdivision of the State. 26
(3) Information technology. – As defined by G.S. 143B-1320(a)(11). The term 27
also includes (i) any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of 28
equipment used in the automatic acquisition, storage, analysis, evaluation, 29
manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, 30
interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by a 31
State-funded program, whether the equipment is used by the State-funded 32
program directly or is used by a contractor under a contract with the 33
State-funded program that requires the use of that equipment in the 34
performance of a service or the furnishing of a product and (ii) computers, 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 408-Third Edition
mobile devices, and virtual machines as well as ancillary equipment, 1
peripheral equipment designed to be controlled by the central processing unit 2
of a computer, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including 3
support services), and related resources. 4
(4) State-funded program. – Any program or activity funded in whole or in part 5
by State, federal, or local funds." 6
SECTION 2. Any employee of the State or of a local political subdivision of the 7
State, or any person contracting with the State or with a local political subdivision of the State, 8
who has already downloaded a covered application to a government-issued device shall remove, 9
delete, and uninstall the covered application no later than 30 days after the enactment of this act. 10
SECTION 3. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent prosecutorial agencies, 11
law enforcement agencies, the Department of Adult Correction, and employees of the State 12
Auditor engaged in investigations from accessing the applications covered by this act for 13
prosecutorial, law enforcement, and investigative purposes, or investigating matters involving 14
offenders incarcerated with or otherwise under the supervision of the Department of Adult 15
Correction or matters related to the misuse of devices owned by the Department of Adult 16
Correction. By March 1, 2026, the Departments of Information Technology and Public Safety 17
shall develop jointly the guidelines necessary for access to covered applications along with the 18
risk mitigation actions necessary for such use. 19
SECTION 4. This act is effective when it becomes law. 20