TikTok: it’s fun, it’s full of viral moments and it might well be installed on your phone right now — unless you work for the TSA, that is. As part of the growing concerns about whether or not TikTok is secure, the TSA has prohibited its employees from having the popular app on their phones.
At The Verge, Makena Kelly has the details. The TSA has instructed its employees to cease posting on TikTok. Why? It has to do with an alarm that’s been sounded by a prominent member of the Senate.
The TSA’s announcement to ban employees from using TikTok came shortly after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) penned a letter to its administrator, David Pekoske, requesting that the agency halt its use.
The Transportation Security Administration has used TikTok on a few occasions, including for explanations of PreCheck and items that are prohibited in baggage. Schumer’s warning about TikTok also cited the Department of Homeland Security’s prohibition on its use, also for security reasons. In a press release from his office, Schumer made a concise case for the app’s dangers.
“The TSA is to be recognized for its work to engage a variety of stakeholders with airline rules and safety,” Schumer said, “but it also must acknowledge the ironic risk it’s placing its own agency — and potentially the public — in with its continued use of the China-owned TikTok app.”
This isn’t the only case where Schumer has raised concerns over the use of TikTok by the U.S. government: he’s also expressed alarm over the Army’s use of the app. The place where apps and national security concerns converge is growing, and that’s unlikely to change any time soon.
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