The United States Army has instructed to its soldiers to never use the social media app TikTok because of cybersecurity threats.
What’s going on: U.S. Army members can’t use the popular social media app anymore on government-owned phones.
- Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa told Military.com the ban is related to cybersecurity.
- Ochoa: “It is considered a cyberthreat. We do not allow it on government phones.”
Flashback: The Army previously used TikTok as a recruiting tool in 2019, using the app to contact people of Generation Z, according to Military.com.
- The Navy and Defense Department have spoken out against the app, too. The Navy told its members to not use the app and to delete it from their phone. The Defense Department told members to uninstall the app to avoid exposure of personal information, Military.com reports.
Bigger picture: The decision comes as worries about the app being used for surveillance of Americans have been on the rise, according to The Verge. Much of the worry comes from the app’s owner, a Beijing-based company called ByteDance, according to the Deseret News.
- Lawmakers worry ByteDance could be used to influence Americans or surveil their habits on a consistent basis, The Verge reports.
- Lawmakers for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States called for a look into the app to see if it was collecting data and how it was sharing that data.
Response: TikTok said in a statement back in October 2019 that it had not removed any content because of China and wouldn’t do it in the future, either. The company said it stored U.S. data in the United States, too.