(CNN) The White House has given federal agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from all government-issued devices.
Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Wrote in guidance On Monday all administrative agencies and their contractors must remove any application by TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, within 30 days of notification, with certain exceptions. Within 90 days, agencies will be required to include in contracts that prevent the use of short-form video applications on devices and cancel contracts that require the use of apps.
The Biden administration’s guidance memorandum will bring together the executive branch and its contractors Compliance with the bill It passed late last year requiring federal agencies to divest TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. This marks the latest attempt to crash the app in the middle Updated security concerns About its US user data and fears that it could find its way to the Chinese government.
The bill moved quickly through Congress in December, landing at the end of the big year Omnibus cost package.
Reuters First reported On guidance.
U.S. officials have raised concerns that the Chinese government may pressure ByteDance to hand over information collected from users that could be used for intelligence or disinformation purposes. As CNN previously reported, independent security experts have said that type of access is possible, although there have been no reports of such access to date.
Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok, said such a ban was “little more than political drama.”
“TikTok’s ban on federal devices was passed without debate in December, and unfortunately that approach served as a blueprint for other governments around the world,” Oberwetter said in a statement: “We believe that while addressing national security concerns, TikTok beyond government devices does not have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans. Congress will explore solutions.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded to a question on Tuesday following the announcement, saying the US was “generalizing the concept of national security,” “abusing national power” and “unreasonably suppressing other countries’ enterprises.”
Canada announced It will ban the use on government devices from Tuesday European Commission It issued its own ban on the app on official devices last week, citing cybersecurity concerns.
More than half of all US states TikTok is partially or completely banned on the devices of government employees, and the US House of Representatives previously announced restrictions on use of electronic devices administered by the chamber.
CEO of TikTok Sho Chi Siew is made the only witness At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing scheduled for late March.
CNN’s Brian Fung contributed to this report.
