• Auburn University has blocked TikTok on campus WiFi following a directive by Alabama's governor.

• Journalism professors have been told to find workarounds so they can still teach multimedia skills.

• One professor told Insider it would do students an "injustice" to remove TikTok from the curriculum.

Auburn University, Alabama, is among the dozens of US colleges that have restricted access to TikTok on campus – and some journalism professors warn it could have unexpected consequences on students' education.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced a statewide ban on the app for all government agencies and networks in mid-December. "TikTok harvests vast amounts of data from its users," Ivey said. "Use of TikTok involving state IT infrastructure thus creates an unacceptable vulnerability to Chinese infiltration operations."

More than half of all US states have banned TikTok on government-issued devices, leading to a number of public colleges blocking TikTok from their WiFi and from university-owned devices.

"To protect valuable information and to reduce the possible cybersecurity threats associated with using TikTok, the Auburn network has been updated to restrict the use of TikTok," the college said in an email to students on January 9.

It said students and staff wouldn't be able to use the app while connected to the university's wired and wireless services. The university directed Insider to the statement when approached for comment.

Auburn University's official TikTok account hasn't been deleted, though it hasn't posted since December 7. Other university-affiliated accounts – including those for Auburn Football, Auburn Tigers, and Auburn Basketball – haven't posted since December, though the college's dining account has continued posting. Some colleges in Texas, in contrast, have told their staff to set all university-affiliated TikTok accounts to private and remove all institutional branding.

"TikTok has never shared US data with the Chinese government, nor would we if asked," a TikTok spokesperson told Insider. They said that the company was "disappointed" so many states had enacted policies "that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok."