NEWS FLASH! There is a ban on Tiktok (Read Details)

NEWS FLASH! There is a ban on Tiktok (Read Details)

Legislators and employees are prohibited from installing TikTok on any House-issued mobile phones and are forced to remove the well-known app from any such devices, according to an official memo obtained by NBC News.

The House’s top administrative officer, Catherine L. Szpindor, wrote in a memo on Tuesday that TikTok poses a “high danger to users due to a multitude of security vulnerabilities,” prompting the prohibition.

It was ordered that all parliamentarians and staff members remove the app from their phones.

“House staff are NOT allowed to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices,” the memo said. “If you have the TikTok app on your House mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”

A TikTok spokesman declined to comment.

The $1.7 trillion omnibus budget plan enacted by Congress last week included a provision that forbids TikTok from being used on select government equipment.
The clause included a prohibition on the app as well as any software offered by TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, on all devices used by the executive branch; it did not apply to Congressmen and their staffs.

The Senate, where some senators, like Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have asked for the app to be fully banned in the United States, is exempt from the House’s instruction.

After the midterm elections, FBI Director Christopher Wray alerted Congressmen that the Chinese government could utilize TikTok to manage users’ devices for political impact or espionage objectives.

The business declared last week that it was attempting to “meaningfully address any security concerns highlighted at both the federal and state level.
These strategies, which we are already putting into action to further safeguard our platform in the US and on which we will continue to advise Congress, were designed under the supervision of our nation’s top national security authorities.