With over a Billion of monthly users, 80 Million of these monthly users are based in the United States. Due to the massive success of the app, there have been growing concerns about the security of the privacy of the users, especially users that are in the government. Sensitive and private data of the users should only be accessible by the users but the threat of TikTok collecting private data is what concerns the government. This raised the action of a criminal investigation in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, for improper access to the personal information of users in the United States.

Sensitive data and information such as their personal info, location, browsing history, biometric identifiers, and private files that are stored in the device are prone . Lawmakers renewed their scrutiny of TikTok for its ties to China through its parent company, ByteDance, after a report that suggested US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based employees. TikTok has disputed the report. As a countermeasure, TikTok Rule states that the prohibition “applies to devices regardless of whether the device is owned by the Government, the contractor, or the contractor’s employees (e.g., employee-owned devices that are used as part of an employer bring your own device (BYOD) program)(FAR 52.204-27(b))).

On December 29,2022, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, The Congress passed the “No Tiktok on Government Devices Act” (Pub. L No. 117-328, 136 Stat. 4459, 5258). The law requires the government to “develop standards and guidelines for executive agencies requiring the removal of any covered application” — specifically defined here as the “social networking service TikTok or any successor application or service developed” by ByteDance Limited, a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing, or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited — “from information technology”. This Idea was already in the works and introduced to the senate in 2020.

As stated by Senator Josh Hawley, TikTok is a uniquely intrusive application. The company openly admits that it tracks users’ locations, it tracks users’ keystroke patterns, it tracks the filenames on users’ devices. TikTok essentially claims the right to peer straight through our phones into our lives.

The requirements mandated by China’s National Intelligence Law allow for the potential that Chinese government officials could use TikTok to violate the civil rights and privacy of users in the United States, or otherwise gather data that may have national security implications.

FAR 52.204-27(b)
The TikTok Rule states that the prohibition “applies to devices regardless of whether the device is owned by the Government, the contractor, or the contractor’s employees (e.g., employee-owned devices that are used as part of an employer bring your own device (BYOD) program).” While there is an exception for a “personally-owned cell phone that is not used in the performance of the contract,” there is no definition of what the phrase “not used in the performance of the contract” means.

This FAR Clause will applies to:

• Any solicitation issued on or after June 2, 2023;
• Any contract award that occurs on or after June 2, 2023, even if the solicitation predated the rulemaking;
• Existing IDIQ contracts, to be amended by July 3, 2023, to apply to future orders; and
• Any modifications/option awards for existing contracts or task or delivery orders that 
• extend the period of performance.

The TikTok Rule widely applies to all contracts and covers IT equipment that is held by the government, contractors, and employees. Unless and until a final rule provides a more precise definition, the primary exception, which pertains to personally owned cell phones that are not used in the performance of a contract, is likely to be a source of confusion, particularly with regard to a contractor's obligations for employees who indirectly work on an irregular basis in support of a federal government contract, such as personnel, legal, or administrative staff.

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