NE Valley Times

Fountain Hills Town Councilman Allen Skillicorn called the social media app TikTok “Chinese spyware” and discussed his effort to ban the app from devices of town government employees.

“This is spyware,” he told host Leyla Gulen on The Grand Canyon Times Podcast. “I mean, town employees could deal with your personal information — If you're filing out a permit application or you're doing some kind of interaction with the town and they have your personal information.”

“Do you really want Chinese spyware on their computers?” said Skillicorn. “So we had to get that off.”

On January 27, 2023, the town, prodded by Skillicorn, banned TikTok from government devices. 

Skillicorn said town’s ban was part of the “pressure” that caused Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) to ban the social media app from state government devices a few months later. In April 2023, Hobbs (D) signed an executive order banning TikTok from state devices.

"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.

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.

This full podcast episode also is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.