W.House is giving federal agencies 30 days to enforce the TikTok ban

WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday gave federal authorities 30 days to remove Chinese-owned video snippet-sharing app TikTok from all government-issued devices and a deadline to one set by the US Congress to comply with the ban imposed.

The Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, issued a memorandum asking government agencies to “remove and ban” within 30 days “installations” of the application on government-owned or operated IT devices and “internet traffic” from such devices to the to “ban” the app. .

The ban doesn’t apply to businesses in the United States that aren’t affiliated with the federal government, or the millions of individuals who use the hugely popular app.

However, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a recent bill introduced in Congress would “effectively ban” TikTok in this country.

“Congress must not censor entire platforms and strip Americans of their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression,” Jenna Leventoff, the ACLU’s senior policy counselor, said in a press release.

“We have the right to use TikTok and other platforms to share our thoughts, ideas and opinions with people across the country and around the world.”

Owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok has become a political target due to concerns that the globally popular app could be bypassed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for espionage or propaganda.

The company did not immediately respond to the White House’s instructions.

The law, signed by US President Joe Biden last month, bans the use of TikTok on government-issued devices. The law also bans the use of TikTok in the US House of Representatives and Senate.

National security concerns over alleged Chinese espionage have grown over the past month after a Chinese balloon flew through US airspace and was eventually shot down.

– Canada, EU bans –

The Canadian government on Monday banned TikTok from all of its phones and other devices, citing fears about how much access Beijing has to user data.

Effective Tuesday, “The TikTok application will be removed from government-issued mobile devices. Users of these devices will continue to be blocked from downloading the application in the future,” the government said in a statement.

Even the European Commission has banned the app from their devices.

TikTok has repeatedly denied allegations that it shares data or cedes control to the Chinese government.

TikTok’s breakneck rise from a niche video-sharing app to a global social media giant has garnered a lot of attention, particularly via its ties to China.

The company had to admit that ByteDance employees in China had accessed Americans’ data, but it has always refused to provide personal information to the Chinese authorities.

TikTok has moved to allay US fears, announcing in June 2022 that it will store all American user data on US-based servers.

Bans haven’t stopped TikTok’s growth.

With more than a billion active users, it is the sixth most popular social platform in the world, according to marketing agency We Are Social.

Though it lags behind Meta’s long-dominant trio of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, its growth among young people far outstrips its peers.