Montana has become the first US state to enact a complete ban on TikTok, with a law that prohibits the popular Chinese-owned video sharing app from operating in the state.
‘To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,’ Governor Greg Gianforte said in a statement on Wednesday, soon after signing the measure into law.
The ban is set to take effect January 1, 2024, and would not punish individual TikTok users — but would levy steep fines against Google and Apple if their app stores continue to offer TikTok within the state.
The ban seems certain to face legal challenges, and TikTok issued a statement saying the law ‘infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok.’
‘We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana,’ the company added.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signs a law banning TikTok in the state on Wednesday. That law made Montana became the first state in the US to completely ban TikTok
The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and NetChoice, a trade group that counts Google and TikTok as its members, also called the law unconstitutional.
Keegan Medrano, policy director for the ACLU of Montana, said the state’s Legislature ‘trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information and run their small business, in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment.’
Gianforte, a Republican, called the new law ‘the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.’
The legislation, drafted by the state attorney general’s office, easily passed through Montana’s GOP-controlled Legislature.
TikTok, which has over 150 million American users, has faced growing scrutiny from US lawmakers and state officials who want to ban the app over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform.
Owned by China-based Byte-Dance, TikTok has repeatedly denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked.
The app has become wildly popular with teens. According to the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of US teens ages 13 to 17 use TikTok, and 16 percent of all teens say they use the app almost constantly.
TikTok has said that the ‘vast majority’ of its users are over the age of 18.
TikTok issued a statement saying the law ‘infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana’ but the company has not yet said whether it plans to sue
TikTok, which has over 150 million American users, has faced growing scrutiny over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform
In March, a congressional committee grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about whether the Chinese government could access user data or influence what Americans see on the app.
But calls to ban TikTok nationwide or give the Biden administration new powers to crack down or ban TikTok have not advanced in Congress.
An attempt by former President Donald Trump to ban new downloads of TikTok and WeChat through a Commerce Department order in 2020 was blocked by multiple courts and never took effect.
Montana, which has a population of just over 1 million people, said TikTok could face fines for each violation and additional fines of $10,000 per day if it violates the ban.
Apple and Google could also face fines of $10,000 per violation, per day if they violate the ban by offering TikTok in their app stores in Montana.
Some lawmakers, the FBI and officials at other agencies are concerned the video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on U.S. citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok says none of this has ever happened .
Gianforte, a Republican, said the law will ‘protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party’
A former executive at ByteDance alleges the tech giant has served as a ‘propaganda tool’ for the Chinese government, a claim ByteDance says is baseless.
When Montana banned the app on government-owned devices in late December, Gianforte said TikTok posed a ‘significant risk’ to sensitive state data. More than half of US states and the federal government have a similar ban.
On Wednesday, Gianforte also announced he was prohibiting the use of all social media applications tied to foreign adversaries on state equipment and for state businesses in Montana effective on June 1.
Among the apps he listed are WeChat, whose parent company is headquartered in China; and Telegram Messenger, which was founded in Russia.
