A few years ago, the US government banned the installation of the TikTok app on US civil servants’ smart devices due to concerns that the app would be tracked by the Chinese government because it was owned by ByteDance, a Chinese technology company.
There have been many discussions over the years, from banning access to the app outright to the decision for the US to buy a majority stake in TikTok in the country. The USDS Joint Venture consortium, which consists of companies such as Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX and many other investors, holds 80 percent of TikTok’s stake in the US market, while ByteDance holds the remaining 20 percent, with the algorithm system for TikTok in the US being hosted on Oracle’s servers.
Recently, the US Department of Justice has announced that US civil servants can now start downloading and using the TikTok app on their devices without any restrictions.
According to the signed agreement, TikTok's operations in the United States will still be run by ByteDance, but user data and algorithms used for video sharing and so on will be held by the USDS Joint Venture.
This means that for the US government, TikTok no longer poses any threat to the citizens of the country, and it is safe for the public to use.
