Federal government employees are now permitted to download TikTok on their government devices, according to a new memo from the Justice Department. This represents an abrupt shift in policy, aligning more closely with President Donald Trump's previously favorable views of the app. The memo, issued by the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), effectively nullifies a 2022 law passed by Congress that aimed to protect against data sharing with TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, citing national security and privacy concerns.
The change follows TikTok's January announcement of a new joint venture, purportedly made up of 80 percent American investors, although ByteDance still controls 19.9 percent of this US venture. The OLC memo concludes that this restructured US venture does not pose the same risks as the previous iteration of the Chinese-owned app. This conclusion is drawn despite language in the 2022 bill that barred the use of any successor application developed or provided by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited on government devices.
"Congress banned only the version of TikTok that shares the same problematic ownership features" as the original, Chinese-owned version, the OLC stated. The memorandum opinion, addressed to counsel for President Trump, further noted, "We understand you have since instructed that employees of Executive Branch agencies may download TikTok onto their official devices, subject to the agency’s discretion and consistent with all applicable workplace policies."
This development comes after Congress made further attempts to regulate TikTok's US operations in 2024. Lawmakers passed a second bill seeking to ban TikTok from operating in the US unless it divested fully to an American owner. The company appealed this matter to the Supreme Court, which sided with Congress. However, one day after Trump was sworn into office in January 2025, he directed the Justice Department not to enforce the law.
The new US joint venture has drawn criticism from some lawmakers, including Republicans, who argue it remains too favorable to ByteDance's terms and is built on a ByteDance-licensed algorithm. Congressman John Moolenaar, who heads the House Select Committee on China, stated in January, "The Chinese Communist Party cannot be allowed to weaponize an app to divide and weaken our country." He further questioned, "Does this deal ensure China does not have influence over the algorithm? Can the parties involved assure Americans their data is secure? Those are questions that need to be answered as the Select Committee does oversight of this deal."
Additionally, the restructured US venture prompted a new lawsuit from investors in Meta and Alphabet, who contend that the deal does not sufficiently reduce ByteDance's influence.