After the US Congress passed a bill in late December designed to ban the use of TikTok on federal devices, the Biden Administration has now set a final countdown for government employees to ditch the social networking app from their work phones and other services.
Reuters reports that Shalanda Young, the director of the US Office of Management and Budget, sent out a memo to government workers late on Monday, telling them they now have 30 days to delete TikTok from their work devices. It also bans government agencies from sending any internet traffic to TIkTok.
Many federal agencies have already banned TikTok, but this new decision covers nearly all US government organizations. There are exceptions for workers in national security and law enforcement, but those employees must get permission from superiors beforehand. Also, government agencies must address any use of the app by its third-party IT vendors within 90 days.
The US government is stating that the ban is because China-owned TikTok could use the app to take data from its many users and send it to the Chinese government. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has repeatedly denied these claims. However, just in the past few days, we have seen the European Commission ban the app from its devices by March 15, and the Canadian government has now banned TikTok from its devices as well.
Members of the US Congress are still trying to ban the use of TikTok completely in the US. Reuters reports that today, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on a bill that would give the Biden Administration the authority to ban TikTok from all devices in the US.