The US House of Representatives has banned TikTok from all devices owned and managed by the body, according to Reuters. In an email to lawmakers and staff, the House’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) stated that the app was considered “high risk due to a number of security issues” and must be deleted from devices. Any future downloads of the app will also be prohibited. This comes after the Senate unanimously approved the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, introduced by Senator Josh Hawley, and the passing of a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that includes provisions prohibiting the use of TikTok on executive branch devices. The CAO worked with the Committee on House Administration to implement a similar policy for the House. This move follows similar actions by 19 states that have banned or partially prohibited the installation and use of the app on staff devices they own or manage.
The concerns surrounding TikTok in the US government center around the potential for the app to be used as a tool for spying by Chinese officials. 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 it completely severs ties with China. TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, attempted to address these concerns by routing all domestic traffic through Oracle servers in the US and pledging to delete all US user data from its servers. However, the recent revelation that ByteDance fired four employees for inappropriately obtaining the data of TikTok users in the US, including two reporters, has likely not helped the company’s cause. The employees gained access to the IP addresses and other data linked to the reporters in an effort to discover who was leaking internal information to the press.
The ban on TikTok in the US has been met with criticism from the company, with spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter stating that Congress’s decision to ban TikTok on government devices is “a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests.” However, the US government’s actions seem to be part of a larger effort to crack down on the app and its perceived risks to national security. The Trump administration had previously attempted to ban the app entirely in the US, but this effort was blocked by a federal judge in September. The judge stated that the ban would likely be found unconstitutional as it violated the First Amendment’s protection of free expression. The ban on TikTok in the House of Representatives and the executive branch is a more limited measure, but it still raises questions about the app’s future in the US.
