The U.S. Justice Department has determined that a federal law banning TikTok from government devices no longer applies to the social video app as it is currently available in the United States.

In a 12-page opinion issued on Thursday, July 18, 2026, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), which advises the executive branch, stated that Congress's 2022 bipartisan legislation targeted only the version of TikTok with "problematic ownership features" linked to its prior Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance Limited. The law had required executive branch agencies to remove TikTok from federal devices and also covered "any successor application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Limited or an entity owned by ByteDance Limited."

The OLC opinion came six months after TikTok's U.S.-based operations were restructured into a joint venture primarily owned by American investors, with ByteDance retaining only a minority stake. This restructuring addressed longstanding national security concerns that had prompted the original ban and a looming nationwide prohibition.

The Justice Department emphasized that individual federal agencies retain discretion to decide whether to permit TikTok on government devices. Agencies may still "independently decide to ban the downloading of TikTok to government devices for workforce management reasons, such as promoting employee productivity."

The opinion also noted, "We understand you have since instructed that employees of Executive Branch agencies may download TikTok onto their official devices, subject to the agency's discretion and consistent with all applicable workplace policies."

The original law took effect one day before President Trump's inauguration.

Sources