The U.S. House of Representatives has implemented a ban on its members and staff using TikTok on official devices due to perceived “security issues.”
TikTok Ban Issued Now for Official Devices in the House of Representatives is a move that follows the passing of a law prohibiting the use of TikTok on devices used by government agencies. The House Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) sent an email to representatives and staff instructing them to delete the app from their official devices and stating that any successor app or service provided by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is also banned. The CAO clarified that the policy only applies to official devices, not personal ones.
Concerns
The decision to ban TikTok on official devices within the House of Representatives is part of the ongoing efforts by the U.S. government to scrutinize and potentially restrict the use of the app. There are concerns that TikTok is collecting intelligence on Americans for nefarious purposes, a claim that TikTok has strongly denied. In an effort to address these concerns, TikTok has pledged that Americans user data will be stored on Oracle servers in the United States.
Who authorized?
Despite TikTok’s efforts to reassure the public, state and federal lawmakers remain skeptical of the app’s intentions. As a result, TikTok has faced partial bans on state devices in 19 states. In addition to these state-level bans, the U.S. government has also taken steps to limit the use of TikTok within executive-level agencies.
This was authorized by the Committee on House Administration, which is chaired by Democratic Senator Zoe Lofgren of California. The committee’s decision was made after the passage of the $1.66 trillion government funding bill, also known as the omnibus bill, which included a measure to ban TikTok on devices used by executive-level agencies. The omnibus bill has now been sent to President Joe Biden for signing.
Incident
The decision to ban TikTok on official devices within the House of Representatives follows a recent incident in which four employees of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, accessed the TikTok data of U.S. journalists in an attempt to find leaks. This incident further fueled suspicions about the company and its intentions.
