Members and staff of the US House of Representatives ordered the deletion of social network TikTok
WASHINGTON, December 27 – RIA Novosti. Members and staff of the US House of Representatives have been ordered to remove the TikTok social network owned by Chinese company ByteDance, according to a letter released by an ABC News reporter from the office of the executive director of the House of Representatives.
“Announcement to all members and staff: The House Executive Committee has authorized the Office of the Executive Director of Cybersecurity to begin removing the social media service TikTok from all devices under the House’s control,” the document posted on Twitter reads.
It was noted that the room staff is prohibited from downloading the TikTok mobile application to any mobile device of the room, and the already installed applications should be removed “immediately”.
Earlier, the US Senate passed a bill that would ban TikTok from being installed on federal government electronic devices. Use of the popular app to create and view short videos has also been banned by government employees in the states of Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and North and South Dakota. The US 2023 budget proposal included a provision prohibiting the use of the app by government employees.
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration of US President Joe Biden is considering forcibly selling the US social networking business. The “forced sale” proposal emerged at an intergovernmental committee on foreign investment in the United States, which, with TikTok’s leadership, discussed the possibility of separating the company’s data and business for two years.
In December, CIA director William Burns said the social network could pose a real threat to US national security. According to Burns, TikTok is a Chinese company, which means that the Chinese government can insist on and obtain access to the information of users from the US, as well as control the content on the social network.
TikTok is a short video creation and viewing application owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Launched in 2018, it has become the segment leader in China and is gaining popularity worldwide. More than 100 million Americans use TikTok in the US.
Source: Ria
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