Phones and other devices managed by the U.S. House may no longer have Tik Tok on them, reports CNN Business, citing a memo sent out by the Office of the Chief Administrator.
Users who install the short-form video app on any House mobile device will be asked to remove the software, according to the notice, which was provided to CNN by the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer. The notice identifies TikTok as a "high risk to users due to a number of security risks." Separately, the US government is soon expected to ban TikTok from all federal devices as part of legislation included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill awaiting President Joe Biden's signature. The move comes after more than a dozen states in recent weeks have implemented their own prohibitions against TikTok on government devices.
In the context of employer-issued phones, it's reasonable to ban surveilling social media apps, but empty grandstanding to ban one surveilling social media app. Why are users of government phones allowed to install anything?