TikTok’s time on government devices nears its end

The controversial social media app TikTok is set to be banned from use on federal government devices by the end of February as a bipartisan law passed amid national security concerns over the popular platform’s ties to China nears implementation.

The law to ban TikTok on Government Devices, introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mi.), was passed unanimously by the Senate in December as a separate measure and was passed later that month as part of a cumulative spending bill. This provision requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop standards for federal agencies to remove TikTok and subsequent apps from all of their devices, except for activities related to law enforcement and homeland security.

“Banning TikTok on government devices was a step in the right direction and OMB should work to get the ban in place as soon as possible,” Hawley told FOX Business. “But simply banning the app from government devices is not enough. TikTok provides the CCP with a loophole to spy on all Americans. That’s why we need to ban TikTok on all devices in the US.”

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The entry into force of the omnibus on December 29, 2022 gave the OMB 60 days to develop its standards for agencies to remove TikTok from their devices. This gives OMB until Monday, February 27, 2023 to post a guide to uninstalling TikTok.

Hawley sent a letter to the OMB on January 27 to request an update on the development status of these standards, giving the agency a response by February 5.

Hawley’s office told FOX Business that the OMB responded to the senator’s letter and informed him that they were taking steps to implement a ban and would notify them when instructions were released.

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TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which has raised concerns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could force the app to hand over US user data or expose it to propaganda. In September 2021, the social media giant surpassed 1 billion monthly active users worldwide.

TikTok and ByteDance are currently under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which assesses the national security risks associated with foreign companies operating in the U.S. or foreign investment in U.S. companies. It is not yet clear when the CFIUS investigation will end.

“It is worrying that instead of prompting the administration to complete a national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have chosen to push for politically motivated bans that will not affect the national security of the United States in any way,” a TikTok spokesperson said. .

TikTok has stepped up its lobbying and public relations efforts amid growing political pressure with an initiative it calls “The Texas Project.” Under the plan, TikTok will give U.S. regulators control over its algorithms.

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It has also spent $1.5 billion to reorganize its US operations in an effort that it claims will ensure US user data is not exposed to its China-based parent company ByteDance or CCP. One measure, announced in December, included the creation of a new trust and security team under the US data security operation.

It is currently unclear if these efforts will be enough to sway Congress, where lawmakers are calling for even more restrictions on TikTok. Hawley and Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) introduced legislation to ban TikTok on all devices in the US and block commercial activity related to ByteDance. Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) called on Apple and Google to ban TikTok from their app stores.

The social media platform will soon get a chance to testify before Congress as TikTok CEO Show Zi Chu is due to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23.

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Last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that TikTok could be used by foreign governments to conduct influence operations and told a House committee he was “extremely concerned” about the app’s threats.

Ray explained that these concerns “include the possibility that the Chinese government could use it to control the collection of data on millions of users, or manage a recommendation algorithm that could be used for influencer operations if they so desired, or to control software on million devices. , which makes it possible to potentially compromise personal devices technically.”

Brec Dumas of Fox Business and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this story.