DOJ clears federal employees to download TikTok again

The Department of Justice says federal employees can now download TikTok on their government devices, Reuters reported. A 2022 law had banned federal employees from using the short-form video app on those devices, but the DOJ reportedly says the law no longer applies now that ownership of TikTok’s US operations has moved to a joint venture backed by Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. Oracle serves as the new venture’s security partner, while ByteDance, the app’s previous owner, retains a 19.9% stake.

A DOJ memo reportedly says President Donald Trump has cleared “employees of Executive Branch agencies” to “download TikTok onto their official devices, subject to the agency’s discretion and consistent with all applicable workplace policies.”

The government-device ban had been followed by a broader ban on TikTok across the United States. But just as that broader law took effect early last year, the app went down only briefly before Trump repeatedly delayed the move and urged service providers to restore access.

Why it matters

It marks a concrete milestone in unwinding the TikTok ban apparatus, with Washington now treating the Oracle-led ownership deal as sufficient to lift the device-level restrictions the government itself had imposed.