Tiktok has been prohibited (Read Details)

Legislators and employees are prohibited from installing TikTok on any House-issued mobile phones and are forced to uninstall the well-known app from any such devices, according to an official document obtained by NBC News.

The House’s top administrative officer, Catherine L. Szpindor, said in a document on Tuesday that TikTok poses a “high danger to users owing to a multitude of security vulnerabilities,” prompting the prohibition.

It was ordered that all parliamentarians and staff members remove the app from their phones.

The message said that “House workers are NOT permitted to download the TikTok app on any House mobile devices.” “You will be asked to request removal of the TikTok app if it is present on your House mobile device.”

A TikTok spokesman refused to comment.

The $1.7 trillion omnibus budget plan enacted by Congress last week includes a provision that forbids TikTok from being used on select government equipment. The clause included a prohibition on the app as well as any software offered by TikTok’s Beijing-based parent firm, ByteDance, on any devices used by the executive branch; it did not apply to Congressmen and their staffs.

The Senate, where some senators, like Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have asked for the app to be fully banned in the United States, is exempt from the House’s instruction.

After the midterm elections, FBI Director Christopher Wray alerted Congressmen that the Chinese government may utilize TikTok to manage users’ devices for political impact or espionage objectives.

The business said last week that it was attempting to “meaningfully address any security concerns highlighted at both the federal and state level. These strategies, which we are already putting into action to better safeguard our platform in the US and on which we will continue to advise Congress, were designed under the supervision of our nation’s top national security authorities.