The U.S. House of Representatives alerted staffers Tuesday that TikTok, and all products from Chinese Internet firm ByteDance, will be blocked starting Aug. 15, on House-managed phones. File Photo by Alex Plavevski/EPA-EFE
July 30 (UPI) — The U.S. House of Representatives alerted staffers Tuesday that TikTok, and all products from Chinese Internet firm ByteDance, will be blocked next month on House-managed phones due to national security concerns.
“Starting Aug. 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,” House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor wrote Tuesday in a memo.
“ByteDance applications are NOT ALLOWED on any House device,” the memo added before listing banned platforms including TikTok, Capcut, Hyper, Lark and Lemon8.
Last week, Department of Justice attorneys warned in an appellate court filing that China — and the Chinese Communist Party — could use TikTok’s algorithm to manipulate what users can and cannot see in an effort to influence the presidential election and serve China’s interests.
Allowing TikTok’s U.S. operations to remain with its current owner “would allow a foreign government to illicitly interfere with our political system and political discourse, including our elections,” federal attorneys warned.
TikTok has denied the accusations, but national security leaders are unconvinced. During his presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order to block the video-sharing site, but a court pre-empted his move.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a measure into law that will require ByteDance to sell its TikTok operations in the United States by Jan. 19, or be banned.
According to a Pew Research Center report earlier this year, about a third of TikTok users in the United States use the social media platform to get their news. House staffers will have to find another source next month to stay up-to-date when using their House-managed phones.
“ByteDance products will be blocked and removed on House-managed devices, starting with mobile devices,” the CAO warned. “If you have a ByteDance application on your House-managed mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it.”