Federal employees will now be permitted to download and use TikTok on government-issued devices, according to a memo issued by the Department of Justice, reversing a ban that had been in place for several years. The change follows a decision by ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, to transfer control of the app's US user data and operations to a new entity, marking a significant shift in how the platform is treated by federal authorities.

The new arrangement centres on TikTok U.S. Data Security (TikTok USDS), a joint venture that is majority owned by American investors, which now oversees the app's US data and operations previously controlled by ByteDance. The move addresses the national security concerns that originally prompted the government-device ban, and comes as President Donald Trump has publicly spoken favourably about TikTok, including boasting about his own popularity on the platform.