The United States Navy has banned the popular social media app TikTok from government-issued smartphones, saying that it possesses a cybersecurity threat. TikTok is very popular among US teenagers and has come under scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers. The U.S. government has opened a national security review of Beijing ByteDance Technology Co’s, TikTok’s owner, $1billion acquisition of social media app Musical.ly.
A bulletin by the Navy showed up on a Facebook page, which said that users of government-issued smartphones who have not removed the app would be blocked from the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Uriah Orland said that the order was part of an effort to address existing and emerging threats.
Last month the US army cadets were instructed not to use TikTok, after security concerns being risen. Navy personnel said that they are generally allowed to use popular apps on their government-issued phones, but sometimes such specific programs that possess security threats are removed.
Uriah Orland from Pentagon said that the Cyber awareness message identifies potential risk associated with using TikTok app and employees should take action to safeguard their information
