US Army bans use of popular app TikTok over security concerns

The U.S. Army has banned soldiers from using the popular social media app TikTok amid concerns about national security and the app’s handling of user data.

The addictive music-video app, owned by Chinese startup ByteDance Technology Co., is surging in use among children, according to Atlanta consumer adviser Clark Howard.

“It is considered a cyber threat,” said Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa, according to news reports. “We do not allow it on government phones.”

The new Pentagon directive, first reported Monday by Military.com, is a significant policy reversal.

Before now, the Army had been using TikTok in conjunction with other social media apps as tools to reach out to young recruits.

That all changed in late October, when Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, reached out to acting director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, urging him to investigate whether TikTok represents a national security risk. The senators described the app as a “potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore.”

By late November, U.S. Army cadets were instructed not to use TikTok for recruitment, while in uniform or while performing official duties. They could, however, continue to use the app during personal time.

The U.S. Navy was the first of the military branches this month to order its troops to cease use of the app, according to reports.

In mid-December, the Army also ordered its personnel to stop using the app on all government-owned phones.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has started a national security investigation of social media app TikTok after Beijing-based ByteDance Technology Co acquired U.S. social media app Musical.ly for $1 billion.

The Defense Department put out a Cyber Awareness memo directing all employees to “be wary of applications you download, monitor your phones for unusual and unsolicited texts etc., and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information,” Military.com reports.

Applications such as TikTok are coming under more intense scrutiny and suspicion in the United States as the shadow of foreign interference looms over the approaching 2020 election.

Last summer, concerns about the Russian-based FaceApp, which allows users to age themselves, grew as rumors circulated that foreign developers were collecting user photos and data.

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The Democratic National Committee sent a security alert to 2020 presidential candidates warning against using the app.