White House Issues Directive to Remove TikTok from Government-Issued Devices Within 30 Days

The White House has issued guidance to all federal agencies to remove the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from all government-issued devices within 30 days. The guidance, issued Monday by Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, calls for agencies to delete any application from TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, within 30 days of the notice, with few exceptions.

The directive follows a bill passed at the end of last year requiring federal agencies to remove TikTok from their devices due to security concerns. Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place. The new guidance calls on the rest of the federal government to follow suit within 30 days.

Within 90 days, agencies must include in contracts that the short-form video app cannot be used on devices and must cancel any contracts that necessitate the app’s use. The White House has also directed federal agencies to take additional steps to ensure that the app is not used on government-issued devices.

The Biden administration’s guidance memorandum is intended to bring the executive branch and its contractors into compliance with the bill, which was passed in response to concerns about the security of data collected by TikTok. The app has come under increasing scrutiny in Washington due to its Chinese ownership and potential for data collection.

The White House’s directive gives all federal agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from their devices. It remains to be seen how the executive branch and its contractors will respond to the guidance, and if the app will be completely removed from government-issued devices.