Trump, Cabinet Open TikTok Accounts After DOJ Clears App for Federal Employees

Q: After years of security warnings, what prompted the sudden reversal allowing top officials to join TikTok?

Top officials were allowed onto TikTok after the Justice Department determined that the app’s U.S. version no longer posed the same security risk that had justified earlier bans. That reversal followed a January restructuring of TikTok’s U.S. operations into an American-majority joint venture, with ByteDance reduced to a minority stake. According to the Justice Department’s legal analysis, the 2022 federal-device ban applied to versions of TikTok controlled by ByteDance; once control shifted, the law no longer fit the new ownership structure. The government also pointed to new safeguards meant to address long-running concerns about Chinese access to U.S. data. U.S. user data is now supposed to be stored in Oracle’s domestic cloud, and the recommendation system is being reworked around U.S. data, with Oracle reviewing source code. On that basis, the Justice Department said it would not enforce the old restriction and allowed executive-branch employees to use the app on official devices, subject to agency rules. That decision cleared the way for President Trump and several cabinet members to open TikTok accounts. Some outside critics still question whether the restructuring fully removes risk, but the immediate trigger for the policy reversal was the Justice Department’s finding that the new U.S.-controlled setup had addressed the concerns behind the original ban.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 23

President Trump and several cabinet members created TikTok accounts on Tuesday, marking a broad administration embrace of the app.
The move followed a Justice Department determination that TikTok is safe for federal employees, reversing the app’s status inside the government.
Wednesday night comedians seized on the rollout, with Jimmy Fallon joking TikTok had become “the new Facebook” and Desi Lydic mocking officials for posting videos amid other national problems.
The reaction underscored how the administration’s TikTok push is already spilling from policy into culture, turning a security-related decision into a political image fight.