Due to several security issues, TikTok will no longer be accessible on any mobile devices under the control of the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a report released on Tuesday.
House employees are no longer permitted to download TikTok onto House devices, and they must uninstall the software from any mobile devices they currently own, CBS News writes.
The Social Video App Can No Longer Be Accessed Using House-Issued Devices
Employees who currently have TikTok installed on a company-issued device must uninstall it, and new TikTok downloads are not allowed.
The US Senate passed a bill to prevent the app from being used on federal devices earlier in December, and the US House is now following suit.
However, NBC News says that the Senate, where some senators, like Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have asked for the app to be fully banned in the United States, and are exempt from the House's instruction.
Several states have also prohibited the app from being used on official devices, including Texas, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
Due to growing worries about national security raised by TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance, the US military has also prohibited its members from using the app on official devices.
Officials were concerned that the Chinese government may force the business to divulge the user data it collects, U.S. officials have repeatedly warned.
Christopher Wray, the FBI director, alerted the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States in November that the app might be used to access or manipulate software on millions of devices.
The $1.7 trillion budget plan agreed by Congress last week contains a provision banning TikTok on government devices, although it only pertains to the executive branch and not Congress.
"With the passage of the Omnibus that banned TikTok on executive branch devices, the CAO worked with the Committee on House Administration to implement a similar policy for the House," a spokesperson for the Chief Administrative Officer said.
Read More: Several US Universities Restrict Access to TikTok on Campus
TikTok Executive Says The Platform Makes For Good Avenue To Open Political Discourse
According to CBS News, due to the risks, it can be remembered that the Trump administration has threatened to outright prohibit the app unless it was sold to an American corporation.
However, President Biden overturned Trump's attempts to ban the app, but he also ordered a government investigation into the security dangers posed by foreign-owned apps.
The head of public strategy for TikTok in the Americas, Michael Beckerman, has previously said that the security risks are exaggerated but that they make for good political rhetoric.
In addition to working to relocate user data to servers in the United States, he claimed TikTok collects less data than other social media apps and is therefore beyond China's grasp.
"We have been working with the US Committee on Foreign Investment for over two years to address all reasonable national security concerns about TikTok in the US," TikTok tells CNet.
Related Article: Biden Administration Officials Are Pushing ByteDance to Sell US Operation of TikTok
