Federal employees get the OK to use TikTok again after ban on government phones

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Federal employees can once again indulge in TikTok videos after the White House lifted its ban on the platform.

In 2022, former President Joe Biden prohibited the use of the app on federal devices, citing fears that it was collecting data for the Chinese government. The Office of Budget Management was tasked with developing the guidelines for enforcing the ban.

The White House reversed the ban in a memo dated for Monday but released on Tuesday, according to Politico.

“TikTok is no longer a ‘covered application’ for purposes of the No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote in the memo.

In January, TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, sold the majority of its shares to U.S. investors — including Larry Ellison’s Oracle — to prevent it from being banned on American devices.

TikTok is no longer banned on federal devices following new guidance from the Department of Justice (Reuters)

TikTok was temporarily blocked in the U.S. last year ahead of the divestment agreement.

Last month, the Department of Justice adjusted its stance on the app. The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel determined that the U.S. version of the app — the version created by the ByteDance divestment in January — was not subject to the 2022 ban.

After the July 21 policy change, several federal agencies launched their own accounts on the app. The Treasury Department, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Health and Human Services all started TikTok accounts following the July decision.

The White House has had an account since last August, well before ByteDance sold off its shares to Oracle and other investors.

Lawmakers tried for years to ban the app in the U.S., which ultimately led to the 2024 law forcing ByteDance to divest or be barred from operating in the U.S.

While the new guidance allows federal employees to once again use the app, there are still bans on it elsewhere in the government.

Both chambers of Congress maintain a TikTok ban on congressional devices, and there are several states that have also banned the app’s use on employee phones and computers. Texas and Virginia both ban TikTok on government devices.

While some federal employees may be racing to download the app back onto their work phones, the state of Pennsylvania is preparing to take the app to court. Its concerns are less about security and more about child safety.

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Dave Sunday announced a lawsuit against TikTok alleging that it fails to protect children from age-inappropriate content on its app.

The civil lawsuit claims that the app’s recommended age rating — 13+ — is misleading as children can still access adult material on the platform.

He also accuses the app of being addictive and detrimental to children’s brains.

“TikTok has built its empire based on a model of addictiveness at all costs, and expanded that empire using deception about what sort of content is viewable for kids,” Sunday said, according to ABC6. “This is not an indictment against modern technology, or a scolding assessment of social media as a whole – rather, this is an action to hold accountable a company that values dollars over mental wellness.”

TikTok issued a statement pushing back on the lawsuit.

“This lawsuit relies on misleading and inaccurate claims and deliberately ignores the concrete safety measures TikTok has voluntarily implemented to support the well-being of our community. Teen accounts have 50 preset safety, privacy and security settings built-in, and TikTok’s Family Pairing tools give parents direct control over screen time and content filters. We will vigorously defend against these claims.”

The company did not immediately comment on the Department of Justice’s new guidance.