United Nations: According to an internal notice distributed to US House staff, TikTok is no longer permitted on electronic devices under the control of the US House of Representatives.

Users who install the short-form video app on any House mobile device will be asked to remove the software, according to the notice. TikTok is described as being a “high risk to users due to a number of security risks” in the warning.

Furthermore, as part of the $1.7 trillion omnibus package that is pending President Mr. Joe Biden’s approval, TikTok is shortly anticipated to be banned from all governmental devices. The action follows the recent implementation of similar restrictions against TikTok on government-owned devices by more than a dozen states.

TikTok has previously called efforts to ban the app from government devices “a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests.” TikTok declined to comment on the House restrictions.

The Chinese government could exert pressure on TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, to hand over the personal information of its US users, which could then be used for Chinese intelligence operations or the dissemination of disinformation backed by the Chinese government, according to US policymakers who have identified TikTok as a potential national security risk.

However, an apparent lack of progress in the negotiations has led some of TikTok’s critics, including those in Congress and at the state level, to push for the app’s ban from government devices and maybe a wider range of gadgets.

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