Justice Department lifts ban on TikTok for federal devices after ownership restructure
The Department of Justice concluded that the U.S.-controlled version of TikTok no longer poses national security risks, allowing federal employees to install the app on government devices.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum stating that the American-controlled TikTok joint venture does not present the national security concerns that led to a 2022 ban on the app for federal workers. The opinion, addressed to the deputy counsel to the president, notes that employees of executive-branch agencies may download TikTok on official devices, subject to agency policies.
The memo follows the January 2024 divestiture in which ByteDance transferred control of TikTok’s U.S. user data and operations to TikTok U.S. Data Security (TikTok USDS), a joint venture in which U.S. and global investors hold 80.1% and ByteDance retains a 19.9% minority stake. The Department of Justice said the minority ownership “makes no practical difference” to security assessments.
The restructuring was prompted by legislation signed in April 2024 that required ByteDance to sell its U.S. TikTok operations or face removal from U.S. app stores. The law was upheld by the Supreme Court in January 2025. Under the new ownership model, TikTok USDS plans to store U.S. user data in Oracle’s secure cloud and retrain its recommendation algorithm using U.S. data.
Federal agencies will now decide whether to permit the app on government devices in line with existing workplace policies.