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U.S. Army cadets told not to use TikTok in uniform

23 November 2019 07:29 (UTC +04:00)

U.S. Army cadets were this week instructed not to use China-owned social media app TikTok while representing the military, an Army spokeswoman said on Friday, amid concerns over the app’s handling of user data, APA reports quoting Reuters.

The directive comes after Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, urged the Army to review potential risks in its use of the popular video app for recruiting American teenagers.

On Thursday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said the Army was undertaking a security assessment of the app, which is owned by tech giant Beijing ByteDance Technology Co.

The U.S. Army Cadet Command, which issued the order, oversees the Reserve Officers Training Corp, ROTC, and Junior ROTC, to train university and high school students for the military. The guidance from cadet command was issued in order to “err on the side of caution”, an Army spokeswoman said.