DOJ says it's no longer illegal to download TikTok on federal devices

Key Points:

• The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel determined that the federal law banning TikTok from government devices no longer applies to the current U.S. version of TikTok, which is now majority-owned by American investors.
• This decision follows TikTok's restructuring into a new joint venture, TikTok U.S. Data Security (TikTok USDS), where ByteDance holds a minority 19.9% stake, addressing previous national security concerns tied to Chinese ownership.
• The original congressional ban targeted the ByteDance-owned version of TikTok, but the Justice Department clarified that agencies may now allow TikTok on government devices at their discretion, primarily for workforce management reasons.
• Congress passed stricter legislation in 2024 aiming to ban TikTok entirely in the U.S. unless ByteDance divests by January 2025, but enforcement has been delayed due to ongoing ownership restructuring and political considerations.
• The new TikTok USDS venture includes cybersecurity measures such as retraining algorithms with American user data and Oracle's ongoing source code review, aiming to alleviate fears of Chinese government data access.