On Wednesday, Montana's Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, signed a measure to completely restrict TikTok's platform. Gianforte, signed a measure to completely restrict the TikTok platform, thus becoming the first state to ban the social network entirely.
Although many states have created efforts to limit the use of TikTok, most have focused on restricting it exclusively on official devices. However, Montana went further and will prohibit the app from being used within its borders. The legislation passed in the state House of Representatives on a 54-43 vote and later the Montana Senate also gave the bill the go-ahead on a 30-20 vote.
SB 419 which is expected to go into effect on January 1, 2024 will not have penalties for TikTok users but will exclusively affect the app stores (Google and Apple) that offer it. The state Department of Justice may also penalize ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, with fines of $10,000 for each violation and the same amount will be charged for each day the ban violation continues.
Gianforte explained that with this law he hopes to protect Montanans from the Chinese regime by preventing them from gaining access to user data from that state.
"The Chinese Communist Party' s use of TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy and collect their personal, private and confidential information is well documented. Today, Montana is taking the most decisive action of any state to protect the private data and sensitive personal information of Montanans from being collected by the Chinese Communist Party," the governor said after signing the legislation.
To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana.
— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) May 17, 2023
The law could face legal challenges
Although FBI Director Christopher Wray himself has warned that TikTok poses a potential threat to Americans, some opponents of the measure see it as government overreach.
In fact, the Chinese app's spokesperson, Brooke Oberwetter, already gave statements saying that the law infringes on people's First Amendment rights, so the company could start preparing a lawsuit to prevent the social network from being banned.
