US House of Representatives Committee on House Administration declared a total ban on the TikTok app
The US House of Representatives Committee on House Administration announced a complete ban on TikTok on all mobile devices controlled by the house on Tuesday, part of a wave of changes as the new year approaches. The TikTok app posed “a number of security risks,” as stated in the memo from the Chief Administrative Officer of the House, Catherine Szpindor. As a result, the working staff of the house is ordered to delete the TikTok app from any mobile that has the app installed and even restrict the downloading of the app on any mobile or other devices.
The US House is one of many government agencies and organizations that have banned the ByteDance-owned app TikTok. All federal employees have been urged to stop using the app and to prohibit its download on any devices owned by the government since the ban was announced last month. The US states of Texas, Georgia, Maryland, South Dakota, South Carolina, and Nebraska have all outlawed the application. In addition, the US military has prohibited all military personnel from using the app.
According to a CBS News report, ByteDance, the Chinese holding company of TikTok, has brought attention to mounting national security issues. The Chinese government may demand that the company share the client information it obtains, as US authorities have repeatedly indicated. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Christopher Wray stated earlier in November that the organization is concerned about national security, particularly the potential for the Chinese government to utilize it to control data collection.
“We do have national security concerns,” CBS News quoted FBI Director Christopher Wray as saying.
“They include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control data collection on millions of users,” Christopher Wray added.
According to CBS News, the prior Trump administration had issued a warning claiming that they would completely prohibit the app unless it was sold to an American company due to potential security and privacy threats. Finally, US President Joe Biden removed the app’s limitations and asked for a government assessment of software with foreign ownership.