The House will be removing TikTok and other platforms owned by ByteDance, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, from all of its managed devices on Aug. 15, The Hill reported Tuesday, citing a memo from the lower chamber's chief administrative officer.
The list of platforms under the prohibition include, but are not limited to, TikTok, Capcut, Hypic, Lark, and Lemon8.
"ByteDance products will be blocked and removed on House-managed devices, starting with mobile devices," Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor wrote in the memo to House staffers. "If you have a ByteDance application on your House-managed mobile device, you will be contacted to remove it."
Szpindor's office in December 2022 directed lawmakers and staffers to remove the app from their official House phones, deeming the platform a "high risk to users due to a number of security risks," according to The Hill.
The memo also told staffers they were not permitted to download the app on House mobile devices.
Congress and the White House have been concerned that TikTok's Chinese ownership poses a national security risk because Beijing could use the app to access Americans' data or run a disinformation campaign.
In April, President Joe Biden signed legislation that would only allow TikTok to operate in the U.S. if ByteDance sold it within 270 days, or about nine months. The legislation allows an extension of 90 days, or about three months, if the president determines ByteDance has made progress toward a sale.