The Justice Department determined this week a federal law banning TikTok from government devices no longer applies to the social video app.

The written opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — an office that offers legal advice to the executive branch — was issued six months after TikTok’s U.S.-based operations were shifted to a new joint venture mostly made up of American investors. The social network’s prior ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance, which still holds a minority stake, had drawn years of national security concerns and caused TikTok to face a looming nationwide ban.

In late 2022, Congress passed bipartisan legislation that required executive branch agencies to remove TikTok from federal devices. It also covered “any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited.”

But on Thursday, the Justice Department argued that law no longer applies to the version of TikTok currently available in the U.S. In a 12-page opinion addressed to the deputy counsel to the president, the Office of Legal Counsel said that “Congress banned only the version of TikTok that shares the same problematic ownership features.”

It’s still up to individual federal agencies to decide whether to allow TikTok, and agencies can still “independently decide to ban the downloading of TikTok to government devices for workforce management reasons, such as promoting employee productivity.”

The opinion notes at one point: “We understand you have since instructed that employees of Executive Branch agencies may download TikTok onto their official devices, subject to the agency’s discretion and consistent with all applicable workplace policies.”

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Tagged: Social Media BACK TO HOMEPAGE