The same Washington that banned TikTok as a national security threat in 2022 now says it is safe enough for federal workers’ government phones.

Story Snapshot

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) says the 2022 TikTok ban on federal devices no longer applies after a new joint venture took control of U.S. data and operations.
• President Trump has told agencies they may allow TikTok on official phones and tablets, if each agency chooses to do so.
• Chinese parent company ByteDance still owns just under 20 percent of the new TikTok USDS venture, raising doubts for some critics.
• The DOJ offers a legal opinion, not a public technical security audit, leaving many Americans unsure who to trust on data and national security.

What DOJ Changed About TikTok On Federal Devices

The Department of Justice released a formal legal opinion on Friday saying federal employees may now download and use TikTok on government devices, reversing a 2022 law that banned the app from those phones over national security fears. The opinion says the law no longer applies because ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, completed a deal in January 2026 to move control of U.S. user data and daily operations into a new company called TikTok USDS, based in the United States. DOJ lawyers argue that this new structure means the current app is no longer a “foreign adversary controlled” application under the earlier statute. The memo goes even further, stating that the “current version of TikTok does not pose risks,” a very strong claim for an app once treated like digital poison on federal networks.

President Trump, who led earlier fights over TikTok, has now instructed that employees of Executive Branch agencies may download TikTok onto their official devices, as long as their agencies approve and normal workplace rules are followed. The White House had already laid the groundwork in a 2025 executive order called “Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security,” which said TikTok could stay if its U.S. operations were put into a new joint venture controlled by American investors. That order treated a “qualified divestiture” as enough to remove TikTok from the ban, as long as the app was no longer controlled by a foreign adversary. The DOJ opinion says that condition is now met, because TikTok USDS is majority owned and controlled by U.S. and global investors and is subject to rules meant to protect Americans’ data.

How The New TikTok USDS Structure Supposedly Protects Data

Under the final deal, TikTok’s U.S. application and related operations now sit inside TikTok USDS, a joint venture company headquartered in the United States, with American and global investors holding about 80.1 percent of the venture and ByteDance keeping 19.9 percent. The White House fact sheet says ByteDance can choose only one of seven board members, is excluded from the security committee, and must hold less than 20 percent of the stock. Oracle, a large American technology company, is the designated security provider, hosting U.S. user data in a “trusted, secure, and purpose-built cloud environment” and monitoring U.S. operations. Supporters claim this setup moves control of the algorithm, the code, content moderation, and data storage away from China and into a structure where U.S. officials and private partners can better guard against spying or manipulation.

The DOJ memo leans heavily on this ownership and control picture to say the 2022 “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” no longer reaches the app now marketed in the United States. As a matter of statutory interpretation, department lawyers argue that TikTok USDS is not an app controlled by a foreign adversary, so it no longer fits the category that Congress banned from federal devices. The opinion emphasizes the President’s earlier finding that a qualified divestiture would resolve the national security concerns raised by lawmakers, once the deal was complete. This is part legal reading and part trust in the new corporate structure, but DOJ does not attach a technical security report, source code review, or independent audit to back its claim that the “current version” of TikTok is safe.

Why Many Americans On Left And Right Still Do Not Trust This Shift

Critics on both sides see major gaps. The DOJ opinion does not describe any public forensic testing of TikTok USDS, does not explain whether any of the app’s code or update systems still depend on ByteDance infrastructure, and does not include sworn statements from independent security experts. For a government that once warned that TikTok could funnel data to the Chinese state or shape Americans’ news feeds, that is a big jump in confidence with thin public proof. In 2024, an appeals court and then the Supreme Court allowed a harsh law to stand that would have banned TikTok if ByteDance did not sell, based on claims that earlier security steps were “not sufficient.” Many Americans remember stories that TikTok still shared U.S. data with ByteDance staff even after new guardrails were advertised, which makes the sudden green light for federal phones look like yet another inside game.

Federal employees are now free to scroll TikTok on official government devices again.

A new DOJ memo confirms the app, run by its U.S. Data Security Joint Venture with majority American ownership, no longer falls under the 2022 ban. Independent audits, revised algorithms, and…

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) July 18, 2026

From a broader view, this decision fits a pattern that feeds public anger at the “deep state” and out-of-touch elites. Since 2020, presidents and the Department of Justice have sometimes used legal opinions to loosen tech restrictions set by Congress after companies tweak their ownership on paper, often without showing regular people any hard security evidence. Conservatives frustrated by globalism and foreign influence see a Chinese-linked app welcomed back onto government devices while Washington still struggles to secure the border or tame inflation. Liberals worried about big business and growing inequality see another foreign tech giant and U.S. partners protected by legal wordplay while ordinary users’ data remains an afterthought. Both sides share a sense that powerful interests cut deals and write memos, while the real risks to privacy, national security, and democratic debate never get a full and honest public airing.

Sources:

cbsnews.com, detroitnews.com, lanacion.com.ar, hk.on.cc, 163.com, jdsupra.com, reuters.com, socialmediatoday.com, newsroom.tiktok.com, mgaleg.maryland.gov