ATLANTA — Employees with Delta Air Lines are now banned from using the popular social media app TikTok, according to a notice from the company.
Delta specified that the rule applies not only for company gadgets but personal ones as well, if they are used to access company emails or work schedules.
The ban comes in the wake of a requirement that prohibits government contractors from having or using TikTok on devices.
Because several airlines technically fall under this category, that legislation enacted back in June now applies to them.
"We are also asking employees to either remove TikTok from personal devices that access Delta systems or remove all Delta systems from their personal devices," the airline said in a statement. "Delta is committed to securing our digital infrastructure and protecting the security and privacy of our business, employees, and customers.”
The airline noted that it will be able to automatically remove TikTok off work phones but staff are now responsible for removing it off their personal devices.
WHAT ARE THE CONCERNS ABOUT TIKTOK?
Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, could share user data with China’s authoritarian government.
A law China implemented in 2017 requires companies to give the government any personal data relevant to the country’s national security. There’s no evidence that TikTok has turned over such data, but fears abound due to the vast amount of user data it collects.
Concerns were heightened in December when ByteDance said it fired four employees who accessed data on two journalists from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times while attempting to track down the source of a leaked report about the company. TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said the breach was an “egregious misuse” of the employees' authority.