TikTok is making headlines again, but as usual, it’s not for good reason.
Back in February, the White House announced Due to security concerns, all federal agencies were given 30 days to wipe TikTok from all government devices.
The guidance has now been broadened to include contractors’ smartphones and even contractors’ personally owned devices.
in the interim rules – Published by the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA) and NASA – The existence of TikTok (and other apps developed by TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance) “whether or not the device is owned by the government” not the contractor, or the contractor’s employee.”
One safety net for TikTok addicts is that government contractors are still allowed to install TikTok on personal smartphones if they are not “used to perform a contract.”
In other words, you do all your contract work on your boss’s smartphone and don’t dare install TikTok.
The rule tightening is the latest round in a growing battle between TikTok and many of the West over alleged ties to the social platform and the Chinese government.
These concerns have already resulted in TikTok being banned in various parts of the world. european parliament, British government, Canadian governmentand India.
Most popular among teens and 20-somethings, TikTok has over 150 million users in the US. Banning TikTok may or may not be a good step away from the smartphones they use for work, may or may not be good for security, but arguably good for productivity. right.
This week, TikTok owner ByteDance defendant For allowing Chinese Communist Party members to access data on civil rights activists and protesters in Hong Kong.
ByteDance and TikTok have repeatedly denied that Chinese authorities control their software or data.
