House bans TikTok on government devices - CBS News

Lawmakers suggest TikTok prohibition connected authorities devices

Federal lawmakers suggest TikTok prohibition connected authorities devices 05:04

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee connected House Administration connected Tuesday announced that it is banning TikTok from each House-managed mobile devices "due to a fig of information risks."

House staffers are present barred from downloading TikTok onto House devices and indispensable region the app from immoderate mobile devices onto which it is presently downloaded, according to a memo from House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor.

The House present joins a increasing fig of authorities entities banning the Chinese-owned societal media app from authorities devices. The Senate earlier successful December approved a measure that would prohibition each national employees from downloading oregon utilizing the app connected authorities devices.

Several states, including Texas, Georgia, Maryland, South Dakota, South Carolina and Nebraska, person besides banned the app from authorities devices. The U.S. subject has besides banned its members from utilizing the app connected authorities devices.

TikTok has faced rising concerns implicit nationalist information owed to Chinese genitor institution ByteDance. U.S. officials person repeatedly warned that the Chinese authorities could unit the institution to stock the information it collects connected its users. 

"We bash person nationalist information concerns," FBI Director Christopher Wray said successful November. "They see the anticipation that the Chinese authorities could usage it to power information postulation connected millions of users." 

The Trump medication had threatened to prohibition the app wholly unless it was sold to an American company, citing imaginable information and privateness threats. President Biden reversed Trump's efforts to prohibition the app, but ordered a authorities reappraisal of foreign-owned apps, and whether they airs immoderate information risks.

Michael Beckerman, TikTok's caput of nationalist argumentation for the Americas, has antecedently claimed the information concerns are overstated, but said that it "makes for bully politics." He said TikTok collects little information than different societal media apps and is besides moving to determination idiosyncratic information to servers successful the U.S. — retired of scope of China. 

"This would beryllium the firewall," Beckerman said. "Nothing is bulletproof, but for the concerns that are being raised connected this, yeah, this is bulletproof." 

Kathryn Watson, Jeff Pegues and Scott MacFarlane contributed reporting.