Justice Department Says 2022 TikTok Ban No Longer Applies to Federal Devices, Though Lawsuit Challenges Deal

The Justice Department determined this week that a 2022 federal law no longer bars federal employees from downloading TikTok on government devices. The Office of Legal Counsel issued a 12-page written opinion stating that Congress targeted only the version of the app under ByteDance's full control. The ruling came six months after a joint venture took majority ownership of TikTok's U.S.

Operations. The opinion states that employees of Executive Branch agencies may download TikTok onto their official devices, subject to the agency's discretion and consistent with all applicable workplace policies. Individual federal agencies retain authority to independently decide to ban the downloading of TikTok to government devices for workforce management reasons such as promoting employee productivity.

A deal finalized in January 2026 transferred majority ownership of TikTok's U.S. -based investors. ByteDance retained a 19.9 percent stake. Oracle serves as the security partner for the new joint venture, known as TikTok U.S.

Data Security or TikTok USDS. The 2022 law required executive branch agencies to remove TikTok from federal devices and covered any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited. In 2024 Congress passed legislation that would effectively ban TikTok from the United States unless ByteDance divested from the app's U.S.

Operations by January 2025. The law took effect a day before President Donald Trump's inauguration. President Trump directed the Justice Department not to enforce the nationwide ban while he worked on a deal to shift ownership.