Application Restrictions

Virginia law prohibits access to specific apps on government-owned devices and networks.

A 2023 Commonwealth of Virginia law requires public bodies, like Arlington County, to cease use of applications published by ByteDance or Tencent for any official purposes, and to stop allowing access to these applications on government-owned devices and networks. Since this law went into effect on July 1, 2023, several Executive Orders from the Governor of Virginia have added additional applications and publishers restrictions. A complete list is available below in the FAQ.

Locally, Arlington County has blocked AI note taking applications and AI meeting participants to prevent County data from being stored in systems outside the County’s control. Library of Virginia policies requires Arlington to store, retain, and destroy County data on specific timelines. AI applications that store data without County consent prevents full compliance under the library’s policies.

As the County has implemented improvements in its technology infrastructure, the ability to comply with these laws and policies has improved. As of March 31, 2025, Arlington County has removed and blocked these applications and publishers from County devices, including computers in Arlington Public Libraries and community centers, and blocked use on "ArlingtonWireless ," the County’s free public Wi-Fi network.

Which applications are blocked?

Publisher	Application(s)	Website(s)
ByteDance d/b/a GauthTech d/b/a Lark Technologies d/b/a TikTok	CapCut Video Editor Gauth AI Study Companion Hypic Photo Editor & AI Art Lark Rooms Controller Lark Rooms Display Lark Team Collaboration Lemon8 Lifestyle Community TikTok TikTok for Android TV TikTok Lite TikTok Live Wallpaper TikTok Shop Seller Center TikTok Studio	capcut.com gauthmath.com hypic.app larksuite.com lemon8.com tiktok.com
杭州深度求索人工智能基础技术研究有限公司 (Hangzhou Deep Quest Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research) d/b/a DeepSeek	DeepSeek AI Assistant	deepseek.com
Grammarly	Grammarly AI Writing Assistant Grammarly AI Writing Keyboard	grammarly.com
Lianyungang Weiyun Network Technology	咸鱼 - 你的省钱APP (Salted Fish – Money Saving)	weiyun.com
Otter.ai	Otter Transcribe Voice Notes	otter.ai
Learneo d/b/a QuillBot	QuillBot AI Writing Keyboard QuillBot for Safari	quillbot.com
Read AI	Read AI Transcripts and Notes	read.ai
Tencent Holdings Ltd. d/b/a Image Future d/b/a Level Infinite d/b/a WeChat	Nishan Shaman PUBG Mobile QQ QQmail StoryCam for WeChat Tencent Music Tencent Video WeChat WeChat Voice WeCom 微日历 (Micro-calendar)	pubg.com qq.com Tencent .com Tencent games.com wechat.com

Access to these applications using personally owned devices on private networks and for personal business is still permitted.

Summary of restrictions:

Network Connection / Work Type	County Owned Device	Personal Device
County wired network (including Library computers)	Not allowed	Not allowed
"ACG-User" Wi-Fi network	Not allowed	Not allowed
"ArlingtonWireless" Wi-Fi network	Not allowed	Not allowed
Other public Wi-Fi networks	Not allowed	Allowed
Cellular networks	Not allowed	Allowed
Home/personal networks	Not allowed	Allowed

FAQ

Why is Arlington County blocking these apps?

The Virginia General Assembly passed a law in 2023 that requires all state-affiliated entities, including Arlington County, to stop using TikTok and other applications developed by ByteDance and Tencent on government-owned devices or government-owned networks. The governor signed the bill in April of 2023. The restriction took effect on July 1, 2023.

Additionally, executive orders issued by the Governor of Virginia requires all state-affiliated entities to stop using DeepSeek’s cloud-native website or applications.

I’m a patron in an Arlington County Public Library, can I use TikTok?

As a patron in one of Arlington’s Public Libraries, you may use TikTok on your personal device connected to your personal cellular network. The Library’s computers and the Arlington Wireless Public Wi-Fi Network will be blocked from accessing TikTok and other applications and websites on the list.

I use WeChat to communicate with family and friends overseas -- Can I continue to do that?

Yes. You are not prohibited from using WeChat on a personal device with a personal network connection. However, you will not be able to use the application on any County-owned device or County-owned network like Arlington Wireless.

What are the specific laws and executive orders you are complying with?

Virginia EO 24 (2022), Virginia SB 1459 (2023), and Virginia EO 46 (2025). Recent federal laws and executive orders related to TikTok apply to the marketplace in general, and the availability of applications in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. They do not govern the Commonwealth of Virginia’s internal operations.