A time limit of thirty days was set White House government agencies to ensure they do not dispose of it TikTok app in federal devices and systems.

In an effort to ensure the security of US data systems, all federal agencies must block the use of TikTok from mobile phones and information systems, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Salanda Young said in a circular.

This directive to block the popular platform, passed by Congress last year, follows similar actions in Canada, the European Union, Taiwan and more than half of the US states.

How affected is the average user by this ban?

This ban affects a very small portion of the US user base of about 100 million citizens who use the platform on personal or private company devices. However, he is stepping up pressure to ban the platform outright amid growing national security concerns that have peaked in recent weeks, including a Chinese balloon believed to be a spy shot down over the US.

“This directive is part of the Administration’s ongoing commitment to secure our digital infrastructure and protect the security and privacy of the American people,” said Chris DeRussa, federal director of information security.

What are governments and agencies afraid of?

With over a billion active users worldwide, TikTok was ranked the sixth most popular social network in We Are Social’s latest report on the evolution of digital services, released in January.

Many governments have expressed concern that Beijing could access the data of millions of users around the world.

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have warned that ByteDance may be sharing TikTok user data. In particular, there are concerns that the company sends bulk personal data of users in Beijing, in violation of strict European privacy regulations.

Who insists on limiting its use?

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump, citing national security concerns, threatened to ban the media from the US unless it was acquired by some American group (such as Microsoft or Oracle). The Chinese company went to the US judiciary, which blocked Trump’s efforts, and his successor Joe Biden eventually reversed his order, nonetheless calling for a thorough investigation.

Last December, Congress voted to ban the app from government devices, giving the Biden administration 60 days to issue circulars. But even before the federal ban, there were others at the state level.

Ottawa announced yesterday that it is blocking access to China’s TikTok app on all official Canadian government devices, citing it as a threat to communications privacy and national security.

The European Parliament is expected to ask its staff to remove the Chinese TikTok app from their work phones for security reasons, an EU official told Reuters today. which will follow a specific directive after the European Commission and the Council of the EU.

What does tiktok say

In November, TikTok acknowledged that some of its employees in China may have had access to European user data, and in December, its employees used the data to track journalists.

But the company running the platform vehemently denies any access or control by the Chinese government over the data.

“The TikTok ban on U.S. federal devices was passed in December without any consultation, and unfortunately this approach has served as a model for other governments. These bans are more than political theatre,” Brooke Oberwetter said after this latest event.

TikTok’s management also complains that it has not been given a chance to respond to these complaints, accusing governments of disconnecting their citizens from such a popular social media platform.

Source: Reuters/Associated Press.