According to the House’s administration arm, the popular Chinese video app TikTok has been banned from all U.S. House of Representatives-managed devices, mimicking a law soon to go into effect banning the app from U.S. government devices.
In a message to all legislators and staff, the House’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) stated that the app was a “high-risk” application and should be removed from all devices owned by the House.
This new rule comes after U.S. state governments attempted to ban TikTok (owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd) from their government devices. Since last week, at least partially, 19 states have blocked the app from their state-managed devices. This was due to concerns that the Chinese government could track Americans and censor content.
The $1.66 trillion Omnibus Spending Bill, passed last week to finance the U.S. government up to September 30, 2023, includes a provision that bans using federally managed devices. It will be effective once President Joe Biden signs it into law.
“With the passage of the Omnibus that prohibited TikTok on executive branches devices, the CAO worked alongside the Committee on House Administration to implement a similar policy at the House,” a spokesperson for Chief Administrative Officer told reporters on Tuesday.
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