Earlier this week the United States Navy banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices, saying the popular short video app represented a “cybersecurity threat.”
PERSONNEL MAY FACE EXPULSION FROM THE MILITARY SERVICE
A bulletin issued by the Navy on Tuesday showed up on a Facebook page serving military members, saying users of government issued mobile devices who had TikTok and did not remove the app would be blocked from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.
The Navy would not describe in detail what dangers the app presents, but Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Uriah Orland said in a statement the order was part of an effort to “address existing and emerging threats”.
TikTok is hugely popular with US teenagers, but has come under scrutiny from US regulators and lawmakers in recent months.
The US government has opened a national security review of the app’s owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co’s $1 billion acquisition of US social media app Musical.ly.