Just a few months ago, U.S. Army recruiters were using popular music video app TikTok to reach possible recruits from the younger segment of society. However, the past couple of months have seen lawmakers call for a national security review of the Chinese-owned app which they consider a threat to the privacy of American citizens. The Navy recently announced they were banning the app from government-issued phones and now it looks like the Army has also followed suit.
According to an article on military.com, they are not allowing TikTok anymore on Army-issued smartphones as they considered it now as a “cyber threat”. They started issuing advisories to their soldiers around the middle of December 2019. Last December 16, there was a Defense Department Cyber Awareness Message saying that there are potential security risks when using the app which is owned by Beijing-based company ByteDance.
The Defense Department message instructs its employees to be careful about the apps that they download and to immediately delete unusual and unsolicited text messages that they receive. They are also advised to uninstall TikTok to protect their personal information. The U.S. Navy has also previously issued an advisory to their employees saying they cannot use the app on their government-issued phones.
This is one of the few times when the DoD and even the Navy and Army have issued guidelines about a specific app that they are banning from their work phones. Usually, it’s just general social media guidelines but now they have specifically targeted TikTok, months after Sen. Tom Cotton R-Arkansas, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York requested Intelligence Officials to investigate whether the seemingly innocuous app may actually be a way for the Chinese government to spy on U.S. citizens.
Of course no one can ban personnel from using TikTok on their personal phones but they are advised to be cautious when receiving unusual messages. The Marine Corps and Air Force have not issued any advisories for now.