Houses bans TikTok on official devices

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The social media app TikTok was banned Friday from electronic devices managed by the House of Representatives, per CNN.

Driving the news: Those who install the app on official House devices will be asked to remove it, according to an internal notice sent to House staff and obtained by CNN.

• The notice states that TikTok poses a "high risk to users due to a number of security risks."

Meanwhile, the Senate voted unanimously earlier in December to pass a bill that would ban TikTok on government-issued devices.

Separately, federal lawmakers introduced legislation this month that would ban the social media app from operating in the United States also over concerns of security risks.

The big picture: TikTok is facing growing opposition from officials in both parties, with GOP-led states starting to bar state employees and contractors from using the social media app on government-issued devices.

• The FBI has warned of possible threats to national security posed by the Chinese-owned social media platform.

Context: TikTok is owned by Bytedance, which is largely subject to China's government, given the country's party-state system, Axios' Shawn Chen reports.

• But the app itself doesn't operate inside China, and the company doesn't store U.S. user data there.
• Oracle began vetting TikTok's algorithms and content moderation models earlier this year to ensure they aren't manipulated by Chinese authorities.

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