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The app is considered "high risk due to a number of security
issues," the House's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) said in
a message sent to all lawmakers and staff on Tuesday, and must
be deleted from all devices managed by the House.
The new rule follows a series of moves by U.S. state governments
to ban TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd, from
government devices. As of last week, 19 states have at least
partially blocked the app from state-managed devices over
concerns that the Chinese government could use the app to track
Americans and censor content.
The $1.66 trillion omnibus spending bill, passed last week to
fund the U.S. government through to Sept. 30, 2023, includes a
provision to ban the app on federally managed devices, and will
take effect once President Joe Biden signs the legislation into
law.
"With the passage of the Omnibus that banned TikTok on executive
branch devices, the CAO worked with the Committee on House
Administration to implement a similar policy for the House," a
spokesperson for the Chief Administrative Officer told Reuters
on Tuesday.
The message to staff said anyone with TikTok on their device
would be contacted about removing it, and future downloads of
the app were prohibited.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment
about the new rule.
U.S. lawmakers have put forward a proposal to implement a
nationwide ban on the app.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton in Vancouver; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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