US Government Lifts TikTok Ban on Federal Devices

The US Department of Justice has announced that federal employees are now allowed to download and install TikTok on government-provided electronics. The department stated that the current version of TikTok does not pose the same risks as the previous one.

The ban was implemented in 2022 on almost all federal government devices due to national security concerns. Then-FBI Director Chris Wray warned that China could use the app to collect data on users through its parent company, ByteDance.

In 2024, the US House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide unless ByteDance sold it. In January of this year, a deal was finalized for the app's US operations, creating a new entity called TikTok USDS Joint Venture. ByteDance retained nearly a 20% stake, with the rest controlled by non-Chinese investors, including Oracle.

When the deal was announced, TikTok said the new venture would protect American users' data using Oracle's secure US cloud environment. It also said that the US entity would train TikTok's algorithm on data from US users while promising that users would still receive international content.

In the Justice Department's announcement, it said: "The version of TikTok operated by the TikTok US Data Security Joint Venture does not fall within this prohibition because the Joint Venture functions independently of ByteDance, is majority-owned by American investors, and has revised the content recommendation algorithm and cybersecurity program originally developed by ByteDance to insulate federal government information against the concerning security features that initially motivated the prohibition."

However, individual agencies still have the authority to decide whether to allow their employees to download TikTok on federal phones. For instance, agencies may independently ban the app for workforce management reasons, such as promoting employee productivity.