Security News > 2020 > January > US military branches ban TikTok following Pentagon’s warning
Last month, the Pentagon told US military to steer clear of what it sees as a national-security landmine: the singing/dancing/jokey TikTok platform.
TikTok has tried to soothe US fears about censorship and national security risks, including a reported plan to spin TikTok off from its parent company.
In November, Vanessa Pappas, the general manager of TikTok US, wrote that data security was a priority, reiterating what TikTok has repeatedly claimed: that all US user data is stored in the US and that TikTok's data centers are located "Entirely outside of China."
In October, Senators Tom Cotton and Chuck Schumer had written to Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire, asking that the intelligence community please look into what national security risks TikTok and other China-owned apps may pose.
The senators pointed out that TikTok has been downloaded in the US more than 110 million times.