A new Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR 52.204-27) clause prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from “having or using” the social networking service TikTok or any “successor application” developed by ByteDance, a Chinese internet technology company headquartered in Beijing, on any information technology system used or provided by the contractor in the performance of a government contract.

This ban affects not only institutionally owned and managed devices used for the conduct of federal research, but potentially personally owned devices of personnel involved in federally funded research, when those devices are used to conduct Emory business. As a federal contractor and subcontractor on various grants/contracts Emory is required to comply with the FAR statement above.