TikTok banned on ALL US reps-issued mobile devices

The US house of representatives has ordered its staff to delete TikTok from any house-issued mobile devices.

According to NBC News, an internal memo reveals the house also forbade them from downloading it in the future.

The email was said to have been sent by Catherine L Szpindor, the house’s chief administrative officer, on Tuesday.

It said the office’s cybersecurity unit had found TikTok to be a “high risk to users due to a number of security risks”.

“House staff are not allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices,” the memo reads.

“If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”

TikTok, a Chinese-owned company, is popular in the US, with many members of congress also using the app to communicate with constituents.

However, rising security concerns prompted government officials to warn about the risks of its continued usage.

Earlier, a measure banning TikTok on some government devices was put in the $1.7trn bill passed by congress.

It included a ban on the video-sharing app and any app owned by the Beijing-based ByteDance on all executive branch devices.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Chief Administrative Officer has issued a cyber advisory on TikTok, labeling it “high-risk” with personal info accessed from inside China:

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“we do not recommend the download or use of this application due to these security and privacy concerns.” pic.twitter.com/F87qwFiHhR

— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) August 17, 2022

In August, the US house of representatives’ chief administrative officer (CAO) said TikTok “actively harvests content for identifiable data” and stores some user data in China.

TikTok, however, fired back, saying its data is not held in China, but in the US and Singapore.