House reportedly bans TikTok on official devices

US House staffers are banned from having the popular social video app TikTok on their official devices, according to a Reuters report.

TikTok is no longer allowed on staff devices because it poses a “high risk due to a number of security issues,” according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday by the House’s administrative director, the office said. Reuters report. Staff members who currently have the app on an official device should delete it, and future downloads from TikTok are not permitted. The House is taking similar action with the US Senate, which passed its own bill to ban the application of federal devices earlier in December.

Lawmakers fear that TikTok, which is owned by China-based parent company ByteDance, could be a threat to national security. In November, the director of the FBI Christopher Wray warned the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that the app could be used “to control the collection of data on millions of users…or to control software on millions of devices.” A measure to ban TikTok on government devices was included in the $1.7 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last week, but it only applies to the executive branch and not the government. Congress.

A TikTok spokesperson did not comment on the new House ban, but told CNET, “We have been working with the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments for more than two years to address all reasonable national security concerns. regarding TikTok in the United States. We believe these concerns can be fully resolved.”

The chief executive’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.