TikTok now banned for TSA employees

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees are the latest government workers banned from using TikTok. 

The ban came after Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) narced on the app over security concerns regarding its Chinese background. 

In a letter to the TSA, according to the Associated Press, Schumer said, “Given the widely reported threats, the already-in-place agency bans, and the existing concerns posed by TikTok, the feds cannot continue to allow the TSA’s use of the platform to fly.” 

We award you no points for that dad pun, Chuck. 

Anyway, this isn’t unexpected as Schumer has been beating the drum for U.S. agencies to shut down any use of the video app for a while. 

Along with Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (AR), Schumer sent a similar letter to the director of national intelligence in October 2019 citing concerns over TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance and its ability to collect data from users, including “IP address, location-related data, device identifiers… and other sensitive personal information.”

The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security banned employees from using TikTok back in January. And at least three branches of the U.S. military — the Marines, Army, and Navy —issued similar bans in late 2019. 

The TSA told the Associated Press that, like the Army and Navy before them, the agency had previously used the platform as part of their social media outreach efforts. But that will no longer be the case. 

Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, it looks like maybe Mark Zuckerberg was onto something when he warned us about the app.