No more TikTok on House of Representatives’ smartphones - Ars Technica

Bye bye ByteDance —

Security issues marque the app "high risk," according to House cybersecurity office.

Eric Bangeman - Dec 27, 2022 8:54 p.m. UTC

TikTok volition nary longer beryllium allowed connected immoderate instrumentality managed by the US House of Representatives. On Tuesday, the House's Chief Administrative Office announced the prohibition of the fashionable video-sharing app, a determination that comes conscionable a week aft legislation that would barroom TikTok from each national devices was introduced.

Congresspersons and their staffers volition not beryllium capable to download the app connected managed devices, the CAO's Office of Cybersecurity said successful an email seen by Reuters. The mobile app is simply a "high hazard to users owed to a fig of information risks," the email said.

"If you person the TikTok app connected your House mobile device, you volition beryllium contacted to region it," the email continued.

Potential national bans aside, TikTok is already astatine slightest partially banned from government-owned devices successful 19 states. And the national omnibus spending measure passed past week volition enactment the kibosh connected TikTok erstwhile it comes to each federally managed smartphones and devices.

TikTok has been successful discussions with the national authorities implicit the information of idiosyncratic data, offering assurances that information connected US-based users would beryllium stored connected servers wrong the US that are inaccessible to China-based employees.

Those assurances are adjacent much apt to autumn level aft we learned TikTok was spying connected reporters. Four employees of TikTok genitor ByteDance surveilled a fistful of journalists, utilizing IP and log-in data, routinely accessing the journalists' TikTok accounts arsenic portion of an interior probe of who was leaking institution worldly to reporters. ByteDance fired Chief Internal Auditor Chris Lepitak, the caput of squad down the surveillance campaign, on with a fewer employees.

2023 is going to beryllium a challenging twelvemonth for some TikTok and its proprietor ByteDance. Short of selling the app to an American owner, which ByteDance is seemingly unwilling to do, determination seems to beryllium precise small the institution tin bash to assuage governments' increasing privateness and user-tracking concerns.