The White House issued a directive on Monday that all gave government agencies 30 days to eliminate the Chinese social media app TikTok, which is now banned by law from any U.S. government devices.
The directive made by the Biden administration comes nearly a month after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who led the charge to pass legislation banning TikTok from government devices, demanded that Biden’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) expedite the law’s implementation.
After the legislation passed last year, the administration had 60 days to enact the law after there had been growing national security concerns over what data the Chinese social media app collects and who is able to access the data.
For instance, as CBS News noted, “TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance could give access to user data to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco also said earlier this month that CCP requires companies doing business there to turn over the keys to their data.
“The Chinese government is not just hacking to gather our data…If a company is operating in China and is collecting your data, it is a good bet that the Chinese government is accessing it,” Monaco said. She also predicted that “The data obtained today could be used in new and frightening ways tomorrow.”
Additionally, the directive also requires that within 90 days, agencies must address any use of the Chinese social media app by IT vendors through contracts, and within 120 days, agencies will have to include a new prohibition on TikTok in all new solicitations.
Ultimately, the directive, ordered by Congress late last year, came after a bipartisan push from U.S. Democrat and Republican public officials for action against the Chinese social media app over concerns that it could surveil Americans. Additionally, some lawmakers think banning TikTok on government devices does not go far enough and would prefer a nationwide ban on all devices.
Similar actions to the U.S. were also taken in recent weeks by Canada, which cited an “unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security,” and the European Union, which also cited security concerns.
Additionally, independent from the federal government, numerous governors have announced that their states would ban TikTok from state government devices over the last year — especially in the second half of 2022 — including Ohio, Georgia, Montana, Alabama, and Iowa.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter responded to the White House directive on Monday, saying that the ban was for “political theater”:
The ban of TikTok on federal devices passed in December without any deliberation, and unfortunately that approach has served as a blueprint for other world governments. These bans are little more than political theater.
On Tuesday morning, China also blasted the U.S. for the TikTok ban. According to CBS News, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated, “We firmly oppose the wrong practice of the United States to generalize the concept of national security, abuse state power, and unreasonably suppress firms from other countries.”
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 14: TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew is interviewed at offices the company uses on Tuesday February 14, 2023 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
As of now, TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March about a wide range of issues, including the platform’s relationship with the CCP and its consumer privacy and data security practices.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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