US Justice Department lifts TikTok ban for federal government devices
Federal employees may now install the short-form video app on work-issued phones, subject to individual agency discretion and workplace policies, following President Donald Trump’s clearance of the change.
The US Department of Justice has announced that federal employees are permitted to download TikTok onto government-issued devices, marking a significant reversal of a prohibition established by a 2022 law. The decision lifts restrictions that previously barred the use of the short-form video application on official hardware, allowing Executive Branch agencies to restore access under specific conditions.
The policy shift is attributed to a revised ownership structure for TikTok’s US operations. According to reports citing a DOJ memo, the 2022 ban no longer applies due to a deal that transferred control of the US business to a joint venture backed by Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. Under this new arrangement, Oracle acts as the security partner, while the previous owner, ByteDance, retains a 19.9 per cent stake in the entity.
The memo states that President Donald Trump has cleared employees of Executive Branch agencies to download the application. However, the directive is not universal; permission is subject to the discretion of individual agencies and must remain consistent with all applicable workplace policies. This approach allows federal departments to determine their own stance on the app rather than enforcing a blanket mandate across the entire government.
This development follows a period of regulatory volatility for the platform. A broader ban on TikTok took effect across the United States early last year, but the application was only offline briefly before President Trump intervened to delay full implementation. The president had previously urged service providers to restore access, setting the stage for the current relaxation of restrictions for federal workers.
The reversal highlights the intersection of national security concerns and corporate restructuring in the technology sector. By citing the new joint venture structure as the basis for lifting the ban, the DOJ has effectively decoupled the previous legislative prohibition from the current operational reality of the platform. The extent to which individual agencies will exercise their discretion to permit or restrict the app remains to be seen.
