by FOX Business’ Lydia Hu discusses TikTok user data collection, national security concerns, and CEO testimony before Congress.
Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young instructed federal agencies on Monday to develop a plan to delete TikTok from all government devices and systems within 30 days, according to a memo obtained by Fox Business.
The directive comes after Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” as part of the massive 4,115-page government funding bill in December, which ordered the Office of Management and Budget to ban the app.
Lawmakers are more alarmed by TikTok, a popular short-form video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
Both Republican and Democratic governors have already banned the app from state-owned devices.
Show TikTok app on iPhone. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco warned Americans not to use the app earlier this month, arguing that “the risks of Chinese companies being subject to China’s national security laws” could pose a security threat. national.
“Any company doing business in China, for that matter, is subject to China’s national security laws, which require data to be turned over to the state. There is reason for us to be very concerned,” Monaco said on February 16. do not use TikTok and I would not advise anyone to do so because of these concerns.”
DON’T LOOK IN: THE STORY THAT GREAT CHINA IS BEING TAKEN IS THE DOING OF LEGISLATORS WHO ARE INVOLVING.
Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokeswoman, called the ban “political theater” on Monday.
“We hope that when it comes to addressing national security concerns about TikTok beyond government devices, Congress will explore solutions that will not have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans,” Obertwetter told Fox Business in a statement.
TikTok has been in negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) since 2019 regarding easing the American side of its business. Oberwetter noted that those plans were developed “under the supervision of our country’s key national security agencies.”
This photo shows the TikTok logo on a smartphone. (Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Chris DeRusha, the Federal Chief Information Security Officer, said the Biden administration “has invested heavily in protecting our nation’s digital infrastructure and limiting foreign adversaries’ access to Americans’ data.”
“This guidance is part of the Administration’s ongoing commitment to securing our digital infrastructure and protecting the security and privacy of the American people,” DeRusha said in a statement.
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The OMB directive, first reported by Reuters, allows for some exceptions, such as in law enforcement investigations.
Last October, for example, a criminal human trafficking organization posted a TikTok video looking for “someone who can drive an 18-wheeler right now” from McAllen to Houston for $70,000.
The next day, law enforcement officials in South Texas found 84 migrants unloading from the tractor trailer advertised in the TikTok video.
