US lifts TikTok ban on federal employees’ official devices
DOJ said the national security risk has eased after ByteDance was left with just a 19.9 percent stake in TikTok USDS.
The United States government is again allowing federal employees to install and use TikTok on official devices, reversing a ban in place since 2022. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded that the national security basis for the ban no longer applies after ByteDance shifted control of user data and TikTok’s U.S. operations to TikTok U.S. Data Security, a joint venture mostly owned by American and global investors. The deal was completed in January. Under the DOJ legal opinion, American and global investors now hold 80.1 percent of the shares, while ByteDance retains 19.9 percent. Even so, each agency may still regulate the app’s installation under its own internal policies and workplace rules.