TikTok Ban on Devices used for Federal Contracts
| TO: | Boston University Faculty with Federal Contracts and Subcontracts |
| FROM: | Kate Mellouk, Associate Vice President, Research Compliance |
| DATE: | July 27, 2023 |
| SUBJECT: | TikTok Ban on Devices used for Federal Contracts |
In June, the US government issued an interim rule for federal contracts prohibiting the use of the social networking service TikTok and other applications from parent company ByteDance Limited on any devices used for federal contract work, including personally-owned devices.
The interim rule applies to federal contracts and subcontracts awarded or modified on or after June 2, 2023. Principal investigators with awards subject to the rule will be responsible for ensuring that TikTok and related apps are not installed and will not be installed on any device used in any way in the performance of the project, including reviewing emails and performing project-related work.
As specific awards are modified to reflect the ban, investigators will receive a communication from the University asking them to acknowledge their compliance with the federal regulation. For general questions about this federal guidance, please contact Kate Mellouk, Associate Vice President, Research Compliance, at kateski@bu.edu. For technical assistance, please contact ithelp@bu.edu.