The U.S. House of Representatives is the latest government organization to ban TikTok on state-issued devices, impacting House members and staff. The Biden administration and other legislators have expressed concerns about TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, sharing U.S. users’ data with the Chinese government.
The ban affects a low number of House-managed phones with TikTok on them—a number in the low double digits, Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson, told the Wall Street Journal. She said it is a political move rather than one intended to protect national security, according to the Journal. TikTok did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment.
The House joins a number of states who banned TikTok on state-issued devices within the past couple months. Among those states are Alabama, Texas and Maryland, and Indiana is the first state to take legal action against the platform. The House’s announcement aligns with a provision in the Omnibus Bill, passed on Dec. 20, which widened the TikTok ban on government devices. The Pentagon, State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration have similar bans against TikTok in place, according to the Journal.
TikTok has repeatedly denied sharing data with the Chinese government. The House’s Chief Administrative Officer declined to the Observer’s request to comment.