NE Valley Times

Fountain Hills town council member Allen Skillicorn today responded to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs' (D) executive order banning TikTok from state devices.

"Finally Gov. Hobbs moves to restrict TikTok from state-owned devices," tweeted Skillicorn. "I challenged Hobbs to do this months ago."

The Grand Canyon Times reported that Hobbs this week signed an executive order enacting the ban. 

"Within 30 days of this Order’s issuance, all State Agencies shall remove TikTok from State-owned and State-leased information technology and personal devices used for State work," said Hobbs' executive order. "Personal devices used for State work include, without limitation, all devices that access State systems, such as email."

Hobbs' announcement came on the same day Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) announced a ban of TikTok on her office's devices.

“Data security is paramount, especially for government agencies that handle sensitive information,” said Mayes in a press release. “We cannot risk the potential exposure of our data to foreign entities. Banning TikTok on state-owned devices is a necessary measure to protect our operations, and I urge other state agencies to take the same proactive steps to safeguard their data.”

The town of Fountain Hills banned the social media app from town government devices in January 2023. 

"I want to thank the Town Manager, Grady Miller, for professionally and efficiently honoring my request to eliminate the Chinese app TikTok from Town-owned computers and electronic devices," wrote Skillicorn in a January 25, 2023 letter to the editor in The Fountain Hills Times. "After one short conversation, Mr. Miller took action administratively and banned Town employees from using this spyware app on Town-owned devices.

Following the Fountain Hills ban, Skillicorn called on Hobbs to do the same on state-owned devices.

"We banned TikTok from the townhall here in Fountain Hills, where is Katie Hobbs on this one?" tweeted Skillicorn on January 26, 2023.

Skillicorn was elected to the Fountain Hills Town Council in the August 2022 election, receiving 4,824 votes to gain one of three available seats on the council. He formerly served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives and serves as a precinct committeeman for the Arizona Republican Party Legislative District 3.

Hobbs was elected governor in the November 8, 2022 election, receiving 50% of the vote to Republican challenger Kari Lake's 49%. Hobbs served as Arizona Secretary of State from 2019-2023 and is a former member of the Arizona State Senate and Arizona House of Representatives.

She received a bachelor's degree in social work from Northern Arizona University and a master's degree in social work from Arizona State University. Hobbs and her husband, Patrick, have two children and reside in Phoenix.