Federal employees can now once again download TikTok onto their government-issued devices, a significant reversal of a previous ban prompted by national security concerns. The Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo clarifying that a recent restructuring by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has effectively eliminated the risks that led to the initial prohibition. This change follows ByteDance’s transfer of U.S. user data and operations to TikTok U.S. Data Security (TikTok USDS), a joint venture now majority-owned by American investors (80.1%, with ByteDance holding 19.9%). The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded in an opinion, addressed to former President Trump’s deputy counsel, that this American-controlled version of TikTok ‘poses no such risk.’ While a 2022 law had banned the app on government devices due to fears of data collection and ties to a foreign adversary, the DOJ’s stance is that ByteDance’s minority shareholding makes no ‘practical difference’ to the security of the U.S. operations. This development comes after a 2024 law, signed by President Biden, mandated ByteDance divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face an app store ban, a law the Supreme Court upheld in January 2025, citing ‘well-supported national security concerns.’ Although the law was set to take effect in January 2025, former President Trump delayed its enforcement, allowing time for investors like Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX to finalize the divestiture. The new venture has assured that U.S. user data will be secured in Oracle’s cloud and its recommendation algorithm retrained with U.S. data, paving the way for federal employees to access the app on official devices, subject to agency discretion and workplace policies.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
