Congressional staff will have TikTok blocked and removed from their government phones by August 15 after lawmakers moved to crack down on CCP-owned ByteDance this year.
The legislation to ban the app from federal devices was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2022. And this year, Congress and the White House came together to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. if it does not divest from ByteDance by mid-January 2025.
The company has sued the U.S. government accusing it of violating First Amendment rights by allegedly trying 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 face a ban. It was driven by concerns that China could use the app to access American users’ data.
Congressional staff will have TikTok blocked and removed from their government phones by August 15 after lawmakers moved to crack down on CCP-owned ByteDance this year
‘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,’ Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor wrote in a memo to House staffers.
‘ByteDance applications are NOT ALLOWED on any House device,’ it went on.
TikTok has made clear that ByteDance is not interested in selling.
The Department of Justice has pushed back on TikTok’s legal case against it, in documents filed July 26 accusing the platform of collecting and transmitting sensitive personal user data to ByteDance engineers in Beijing. The data includes bulk information on users’ views on social issues like abortion, gun control and religion.
The DOJ issued a warning of ‘covert content manipulation’ and the ability for the CCP to shape the content users see on its platform to influence their views.
2022. And this year, Congress and the White House came together to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. if it does not divest from ByteDance
‘By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,’ the brief states.
Nothing in the redacted brief ‘changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side,’ TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement.
‘The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans’ voices, violating the 1st Amendment,’ Haurek said. ‘As we’ve said before, the government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information. We remain confident we will prevail in court.’
Oral arguments for the case are scheduled for September.
