TikTok Is Now Banned On All U.S. House of Representatives-Issued Devices, Effective Immediately The news was sent via email to congress on Tuesday.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
The push to ban TikTok in several state governments and college campuses has now expanded to the U.S. government — the U.S. House of Representatives has ordered the app to be removed from all house-managed devices.
The new policy is set to be enforced "effective immediately," per an email obtained by Fox News because the "TikTok mobile application [is] to be a high risk to users due to a number of security risks."
House members were told not to download or re-download the app once it's removed, and those who already have the app installed will be contacted to remove it.
RELATED: Auburn University in Alabama Banned TikTok on School Wifi and University Devices
The email was sent by House Chief Administrative Office Catherine L. Szpindor following the release of the 4,115-page omnibus bill, which included a proposition to ban TikTok from all government devices, but, at the time, did not include members of Congress or staff, per CNN.
The new rule — aptly called the No TikTok on Government Devices Act — was included in the larger bill after a standalone TikTok ban was passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate weeks earlier.
"It's troubling that rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States," TikTok spokesperson Hilary McQuaide said in a statement.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Bejing-based tech company that also owns Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
TikTok has not yet commented on the new ban.
