White House rescinds TikTok ban on federal devices after ownership shift

The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum on Aug 11 revoking the 2023 directive that prohibited TikTok on federal devices, after the Justice Department concluded the platform no longer qualifies as a “covered application” under the 2022 security law. This reversal follows a January transaction that transferred TikTok’s U.S. business from its Chinese parent ByteDance to an American consortium headed by Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake.

Under the new ownership, TikTok has replaced its original content-recommendation algorithm and cybersecurity program to isolate federal information from the features that originally triggered the ban. The earlier restriction was driven by concerns that Chinese control could expose user data or enable propaganda. The administration now deems the current version of the app safe for use on government equipment.