Rhoden bans Chinese apps for state government
Rhoden announced the South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications (BIT) banned the Chinese applications DeepSeek, an artificial intelligence company, and RedNote, a Chinese social media app, pursuant to former Gov. Kristi Noem's Executive Order 2023-06.
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Rhoden's press release said 'This action was taken for the security of South Dakotans' personal information against the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, which the State of South Dakota has designated as an 'Evil Foreign Government.'
'Banning RedNote and DeepSeek is a necessary step to protect our IT systems and keep South Dakota strong, safe, and free,' Rhoden said in the release. 'My administration will proactively identify, monitor, and respond to cybersecurity threats across the state.'
Noem signed EO 2023-06 in May 2023, which gave the Commissioner of BIT the power to ban any other application, website, platform, service, or product whose use or access would be detrimental to state security.
Similar to the bans on Bytedance and Tencent, this ban extends to both use on state devices and state employees' use on their personal devices while on state time. You can find a list of banned entities on the BIT website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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