White House lifts TikTok ban on federal work phones

The Trump administration has ended its ban on federal employees using TikTok on government-issued devices, according to a memorandum signed by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget. The authorization covers employees across Executive Branch agencies, though each agency can still decide for itself whether to permit the app under its own internal policies.

The change follows the creation of TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, a new company that now runs TikTok's U.S. operations and is majority-owned by American and other global investors. ByteDance, the Chinese firm that built TikTok, retains a 19.9% stake in the venture.

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded on July 16 that the restructured app no longer falls under the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, the bipartisan law President Joe Biden signed in 2022 that barred the app from federal devices and required agencies to remove it. The department said the joint venture operates independently of ByteDance and has revised the app's content recommendation algorithm and cybersecurity program to address the security concerns that prompted the original ban.

Vought's memo confirms that federal employees may now legally download TikTok on government devices following the platform's relaunch in the United States.

Read the full story at voz.us.