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In recent years, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the United States, with more than 150 million users,[i] and the most popular smartphone app in the United States.[ii]  Despite its widespread popularity in the United States, TikTok has come under regulatory scrutiny due to data security concerns relating to its Chinese parent, ByteDance, and the United States government has even threatened to ban the TikTok app nationally if ByteDance does not sell the app.[iii]

While no national ban has been introduced, the government has now made it more difficult for government contractors whose employees use TikTok by introducing regulations to implement a federal statute that prohibits the use of TikTok on devices used by government contractors.  In particular, an interim rule implementing section 102 of Division R of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328), entitled the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” became effective as of June 2, 2023.[iv]  This new rule has the effect of prohibiting government contractors and their employees from having TikTok on any device that is used for government work.  Any business or nonprofit engaged in government contracting needs to take note of this new regulation.

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[i] Celebrating Our Thriving Community of 150 Million Americans, TikTok (Mar. 21, 2023), https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/150-m-us-users.

[ii] Sara Fischer, TikTok’s Popularity Complicates Possible U.S. Ban, Axios (Mar. 22, 2023), https://www.axios.com/2023/03/22/tiktok-popularity-us-ban-congress.

[iii] Sara Fischer & Ashley Gold, U.S. Tells TikTok Owners to Sell App or Face a Ban, Axios (Mar. 15, 2023), https://www.axios.com/2023/03/16/us-tells-tiktok-ban-sale-cfius.

[iv] Federal Acquisition Regulation: Prohibition on a ByteDance Covered Application, 88 Fed. Reg. 36430-02 (June 2, 2023).

 

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