The TikTok logo is displayed outside a TikTok office on December 20, 2022 in Culver City, California. Congress is pushing legislation to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app from most government devices. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
The White House has mandated that federal agencies remove TikTok from phones and systems in a bid to keep U.S. data safe, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced Monday.
The big picture: The ban follows similar actions from Canada, the EU and Taiwan, notes Reuters, which first reported the news.
Why it matters: FBI Director Chris Wray warned in December that TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, could be used for "influence operations."
Of note: Both the House and Senate passed bills banning the app from government devices last year.
Between the lines: The ban does not affect any "national security, law enforcement or security research activities," per the OMB memo.
What they're saying: "The Biden-Harris Administration has invested heavily in defending our nation’s digital infrastructure and curbing foreign adversaries’ access to Americans’ data," said Chris DeRusha, federal chief information security officer, in an emailed statement on Monday night.
The other side: Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson at TikTok, said in a statement said the U.S. prohibition on federal devices that passed in December "without any deliberation" had "served as a blueprint" for other governments and called such bans "political theater."
Go deeper: TikTok drama underscores growing U.S.-China divide
Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from Chris DeRusha, federal chief information security officer, and further context.