TSA to Employees: Stop Using TikTok

Agency halts use of app for social media posts
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Feb 24, 2020 1:56 AM CST
TSA Halts Employee Use of TikTok for Social Media Posts
"Given the widely reported threats, the already-in-place agency bans, and the existing concerns posed by TikTok, the feds cannot continue to allow the TSA’s use of the platform to fly," Schumer said.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday it has stopped allowing employees to use the China-owned video app TikTok to create social media posts for the agency after the Senate’s top Democrat raised concerns about potential national security issues. Sen. Chuck Schumer sent a letter Saturday to TSA Administrator David Pekoske, months after news reports that the US government launched a national security review of the app, which is popular with millions of US teens and young adults, the AP reports. Schumer also cited a Department of Homeland Security policy prohibiting TikTok on agency devices. He also noted in the letter that Chinese laws compel companies to cooperate with China’s government and intelligence collection.

The TSA said in a statement Sunday that a "small number of TSA employees have previously used TikTok on their personal devices to create videos for use in TSA’s social media outreach, but that practice has since been discontinued." In his letter, Schumer said national security experts have raised concerns about TikTok’s collection and handling of user data and personal information, locations, and other content. The agency said it never directed viewers to TikTok or published content directly to the platform, despite videos reposted on other TSA social media accounts having the TikTok logo in the bottom of the screen. The videos include musical parodies about what can and cannot be brought on an aircraft.

(More TikTok stories.)

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