Congressional staffers must block TikTok and remove it from their government phones by August 15, after lawmakers this year took a tougher stance against CCP-owned ByteDance.
Legislation to ban the app from federal devices was signed by President Joe Biden in December 2022. And this year, Congress and the White House met to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless the company divests from ByteDance by mid-January 2025.
The company has sued the US government for violating First Amendment rights, alleging that the company is attempting to silence “the 170 million Americans” who use the social media application.
The bill was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by Biden on April 24, giving ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or risk a ban. It was driven by concerns that China could use the app to access the data of US users.
Congressional staffers will have TikTok blocked and removed from their government phones starting August 15, after lawmakers this year shut down CCP-owned ByteDance
“Beginning August 15, 2024, the CAO Office of Cybersecurity will block and remove all ByteDance products from all House-managed device and app stores,” Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor wrote in a memo to House staff.
“ByteDance applications are NOT ALLOWED on any House device,” it continued.
TikTok has made it clear that ByteDance is not interested in selling.
The Justice Department pushed back TikTok’s lawsuit against the platform in documents filed on July 26, accusing the platform of collecting and transmitting sensitive personal user data to ByteDance engineers in Beijing. The data included bulk information about users’ views on social issues such as abortion, gun control and religion.
The Justice Department warned of “covert content manipulation” and the CCP’s ability to influence the content users see on its platform and thus sway their views.
2022. And this year, Congress and the White House came together to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless the company divests from ByteDance
“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could, for example, continue its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and increase societal divisions,” the report said.
Nothing in the redacted report “changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side,” TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said in a statement.
“The TikTok ban would silence the voices of 170 million Americans in violation of the First Amendment,” Haurek said. “As we have said before, the government has never presented any evidence to support its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, the government is once again taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind classified information. We are confident we will prevail in court.”
Oral arguments in this case are scheduled for September.