The United States army has recently banned the use of the popular short-video sharing app 'TikTok' on its soldiers' government-owned phones for security reasons. In December last year, a Cyber Awareness Message was sent out to identifying TikTok as having possible security risks connected to use. This was according to Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa, an Army spokesperson.
A couple of months ago, recruiters of the Army were using Tiktok to reach out to young generations and entice them to join the Army, as well. In late October last year, Senators Tom Cotton R-Arkansas and Chuck Schumer, from D-New York asked intelligence to review whether the TikTok app is considered a national threat for the U.S. Army, or not. In a statement issued and mentioned on online posts, the popular app said, all the data of its U.S. users were located outside China and would not be subjected to Chinese law. More so, the social media platform also said the company is following strong policies on data privacy and cybersecurity.
Cyber Awareness Message: Protecting the Soldiers' Personal Information
The Cyber Awareness Message, according to the Army official, "was to make aware of the soldiers to safeguard their personal information," not to mention, be aware of the applications they download, monitor for atypical apps and delete them after, and uninstall the TikTok app for the protection of the leak of their personal information. Designed by ByteDance, a Beijing-based tech firm, Tiktok was the first Chinese-owned app to reach the No. 1 spot in Apple Store U.S. last November.
A far as its involvement in Hong Kong protests is concerned, TikTok insists the company is not censoring the content of its users in Hong Kong. It added, "protest-related videos tend not to go viral as those are not what the users would want to share. A TikTok spokesperson told the media in October that pro-Hong Kong content may be available on the app. Nevertheless, dance challenges and goofy memes are what the young users of this app engage with the most. The online news sources did not have any proof at that time that it did not find any proof that TikTok blocked the videos that are pro-Hong Kong democracy.
TikTok Also Banned by U.S. Navy
U.S. Army is not the lone government agency that's prohibiting employees from using TikTok on their government-issued mobile device. Recently, the U.S. Navy also announced it ordered its staff not to install the app, even one of the government-issued mobile devices give them. It warned them, as well, about the protection of personal on the information. The said agency posted on its Facebook page saying, any military personnel those who do not delete short-video sharing app would indeed be blocked from the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet.
Additionally, CNET posted on its website an article indicating that Dave Benham, the director of the public affairs of The United States Fleet Cyber Commands/US F10th Fleet, said that the NCMI users were directed to install/uninstall TikTok from government-issued mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads. The said decision, Benham explained, was made best on the assessments or reviews of threat on the agency's cybersecurity. Moreover, the Navy was consistent with its efforts of the 10th Fleet to address the incoming and existing risks of the network's defense proactively.
