The U.S. Justice Department on 17th July announced that it has decided the app’s national security risks are no longer present, and that federal employees can resume using TikTok on government devices.
The previous restriction, however, has been removed after a restructuring of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, the department wrote in a letter to President Donald Trump.
The reorganisation put the U.S. user data and operations under a new joint venture, TikTok USDS, that the department said changes the security landscape.
“We now remember our earlier guidance that employees of Executive Branch agencies can install TikTok on their assigned devices at the agency’s discretion and in compliance with all agency policies”, the memo said.
While ByteDance continues to be a minority shareholder, its “continued 19.9%” stake in TikTok USDS “makes no practical difference,” the Justice Department said.
Oracle-backed Venture takes control of U.S. data
The new ownership model means that American and global investors also have an 80.1% stake in TikTok USDS, with ByteDance holding the balance of 19.9%.
In January, TikTok announced that the joint venture will leverage U.S. user information to retrain, test and improve the platform’s recommendation algorithm, which will be hosted on Oracle’s U.S.-based cloud platform.
Oracle is one of three key investors in the venture.
ByteDance has claimed TikTok USDS will “provide greater cybersecurity and privacy protections for U.S. user data, applications and algorithms.”
It is used by approximately 200 million users in the United States.
Trump Declined To Enforce Divestiture Law
The decision follows Trump’s decision not to enforce a law passed in April 2024 mandating that ByteDance sell its U.S. assets by January 2025 or risk a TikTok ban nationwide.
This was later confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In September, Reuters reported that ByteDance will maintain control of TikTok’s U.S. business, but transfer control of the app’s U.S. data, content and recommendation algorithm to the joint venture.
