The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday began banning the use of TikTok from House-managed devices due to “high risk” “security” concerns.
Last week, Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) proposed legislation to ban the Chinese social media app TikTok from United States government devices was passed in the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) both supported the legislation in the House.
On Tuesday, a notice went out to all House members and staffers banning the app immediately from House-managed devices.
“House staff are not allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices,” the notice read. “If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”
“The Office of Cybersecurity has been [sic] deemed The TikTok mobile application to be a high security to risk to users due to a number of security risks,” the notice continued.
The House is not the only entity that will have to delete the app. The app will be removed from all government devices.
“TikTok is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a major security risk to the United States, and until it is forced to sever ties with China completely, it has no place on government devices,” Hawley said after the bill passed the Senate.
(Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
“States across the U.S. are banning TikTok on government devices. It’s time for Joe Biden and the Democrats to help do the same,” he said.
Some States have also noted the security risks of Tiktok. The following states intend to ban the app from government devices:
The ban on TikTok on government devices has ended up in the omnibus.
This was a Josh Hawley bill. Pelosi pushed for it in the omni pic.twitter.com/gpBZ8zFC7Y
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 20, 2022
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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