According to Reuters, TikTok is now prohibited on any device owned or managed by the US House of Representatives.
In an email, the House’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) reportedly instructed all lawmakers and their staff to delete the app from their devices because it is considered “high risk due to a number of security issues.”
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Everyone found with the social networking app on their phones will be contacted to ensure it is deleted, and any future downloads will be prohibited.
This is the latest in a series of steps taken by the US government to remove the app from devices it owns. Legislators approved a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill last week, which included provisions prohibiting the use of TikTok on executive branch devices.
According to a spokesperson for the Chief Administrative Officer, following its passage, the CAO collaborated with the Committee on House Administration to implement a similar policy for the House.
Senator Josh Hawley introduced the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which was unanimously approved by the Senate (R-Missouri). According to Reuters, 19 states have also prohibited or restricted the installation and use of the app on staff devices owned or managed by them.
When the omnibus bill was passed, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told Engadget that the company is “disappointed that Congress has moved to prohibit TikTok from being used on government devices,” calling it a “political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests.”
Critics in the US government have expressed concern that TikTok could be used by Chinese officials to spy on the US. FBI Director Chris Wray referred to it as a “Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party” and stated that it has no place on government devices until the United States severes all ties with China.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, attempted to allay those fears by routing all domestic traffic through Oracle servers in the United States and promising to delete all US user data from its servers.
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However, the recent revelation that ByteDance fired four employees for improperly obtaining the data of TikTok users in the United States, including two journalists, is unlikely to help the company’s cause.
According to the New York Times, the employees obtained access to the IP addresses and other data associated with two reporters in their quest to determine who was leaking internal information to the press.
