; even so, the application’s widespread popularity limits the effectiveness of this step: (1) Prior to 2022, several Federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, had issued orders banning TikTok on devices for which those specific agencies are responsible. (2) On December 29, 2022, following its adoption by Congress, the President signed into law a bill banning the use of TikTok on Government devices due to the national security threat posed by the application under its current ownership. (3) A majority of States in the United States have also banned TikTok on State government devices due to the national security threat posed by the application under its current ownership. (4) To date, as long as TikTok is subject to the ownership or control of ByteDance, no alternative to preventing or prohibiting TikTok’s operation of the application in the United States has been identified that would be sufficient to address the above-identified risks. (5) The national security risks arise from and are related to the ownership or control of TikTok by a foreign adversary controlled company. Severing ties to such foreign adversary controlled company, for example by a full divestment, would mitigate such risks. (6) As has been widely reported, TikTok, Inc. has proposed an alternative, a proposal referred to as Project Texas, which is an initiative to try and satisfy concerns relating to TikTok’s handling of United States user data. (A) Under the proposal, United States user data would be stored in the United States, using the infrastructure of a trusted third party. (B) That initiative would have allowed the application algorithm, source code, and development activities to remain in China under ByteDance’s control and subject to PRC laws, albeit subject to proposed safeguards relating to cloud infrastructure and other data security concerns. Project Texas would also have allowed ByteDance to continue to have a role in certain aspects of TikTok’s United States operations. (C) Project Texas