Janice R. Andrews
August 15 is when all House-managed devices would no longer have access to TikTok and other applications owned by China-based ByteDance, the chief administrative officer (CAO) of the House declared on Tuesday. Congress is working to resolve national security concerns over ByteDance’s ownership, and this action is part of that effort.
Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor issued a memo to House workers that The Hill was able to receive. “Starting August 15, 2024, the CAO Office of Cybersecurity will initiate the block and removal of all ByteDance products from all House-managed devices and app stores,” the document stated. “ByteDance applications are NOT ALLOWED on any House device.”
Platforms like TikTok, Capcut, Hypic, Lark, and Lemon8 are prohibited. This choice is in accordance with the December 2022 instruction, which mandated that all legislators and staff members take TikTok off of official House phones because of security concerns.
The CAO has warned that ByteDance programs would be deliberately deleted from devices under House management, which is an increase from the prior mandate. “If you have a ByteDance application on your House-managed mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it,” the email added.
This move is a component of larger initiatives to maybe outlaw TikTok completely in the United States. A measure demanding that TikTok be banned countrywide within a year unless ByteDance divests from the app was enacted by Congress in April and signed by President Biden.
