IRS Faces Scrutiny Over Non-Compliance with TikTok Ban on Government Devices

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has come under scrutiny for failing to comply with the White House directive to remove and block TikTok from all government devices, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

Released on December 18, the TIGTA report revealed that over 2,800 mobile devices in the hands of the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division still have unrestricted access to TikTok. Additionally, 900 employees in the criminal investigation department can access the platform through agency computers.

The report also highlighted that 23 mobile devices used by the IRS’s Communications and Liaison group, responsible for monitoring social media sites, also had access to TikTok through its website and mobile application.

The White House had issued a directive at the end of February, giving federal agencies a 30-day deadline to remove TikTok from all government devices and systems. This directive followed the passage of the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” by Congress.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco had previously warned against using the TikTok app, citing concerns related to China’s national security laws, which require companies to turn over data to the state.

While the IRS did take steps to block access to TikTok on 6,300 of its mobile devices, the TIGTA report revealed that the app could still be accessed on 23 “unmanaged” devices. The watchdog conducted tests to determine whether TikTok could be accessed on IRS devices and found that the agency successfully blocked access in the majority of cases.

However, the report noted that the IRS had not updated its “bring your own device” policies to inform employees that they couldn’t access TikTok, a gap that the agency has reportedly agreed to address.

As the IRS faces criticism for non-compliance, concerns about national security and data privacy continue to surround the use of the TikTok app on government devices.