By Drew Harwell and Drew Harwell
Dec. 31, 2019 at 3:07 p.m. EST
The U.S. Army has banned the use of the popular video app TikTok on government-issued phones, following guidance from the Pentagon and highlighting growing tensions over the app’s Beijing-based parent firm.
Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa told Military.com in an interview released this week that the app was “considered a cyber threat” and not allowed on government-issued devices. Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Crystal X. Boring told The Washington Post on Tuesday that the service branch was adhering to directions from the Defense Department, which flagged the app for “potential security risks.”
The measure follows a similar ban from the U.S. Navy and a “cyber awareness” message earlier in December from the Defense Department that urged the Pentagon’s roughly 23,000 employees to uninstall the app because it could potentially expose personal data to “unwanted actors.”
Source: Washington Post