Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has signed into law severely restricting the app TikTok, making his state the first to enact a near-total ban on the social media platform in the United States.
The law, which would go into effect on January 1, 2024, would ban TikTok from operating in Montana. It would also ban app stores from offering TikTok for download within state borders — a ban that tech companies fear will be impossible to enforce and free speech advocates see as a violation of their rights to the First. Amendment.
“This law tramples on our freedom of speech under the guise of national security and lays the groundwork for excessive government control of the Internet,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a tweet following Wednesday’s announcement.
“Elected officials have no right to selectively censor entire social media apps based on their country of origin.”
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based internet technology company ByteDance, has more than 1 billion users around the world, 150 million of which they are based in the US. There are also 7,000 people working in the country.
But while the owners of China and TikTok have repeatedly denied that the video-sharing app poses a threat, TikTok has faced bipartisan scrutiny in the US and other countries over questions of privacy, surveillance and alleged ties to the Beijing government.
At the signing of anti-TikTok legislation on Wednesday, Gianforte promised “to protect Montanans’ personal and private information from the Chinese Communist Party”.
He also gave one memorandum to the state’s chief information officer calling for the ban to be extended to other social media apps with foreign ties, including China-based WeChat and Telegram, which was founded by two Russian-born entrepreneurs.
In addition, the memorandum said that starting June 1, no state employee will be allowed to download or access social media apps “that provide personal information or data to foreign adversaries” using government-issued devices and networks.
TikTok, Gianforte’s letter claims, “harvests vast amounts of personal information and data from its users’ devices, much of which has nothing to do with the app’s purported purpose of sharing videos. It is well documented that the company provides such information and data to the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok has not yet announced whether it will file a lawsuit to overturn the ban in Montana, but legal challenges are expected.
The company did release a statement affirming users’ right to free speech through the platform.
“We want to reassure Montanas that they can continue to use TikTok to express themselves, make a living and find community as we continue to defend the rights of our users inside and outside Montana,” spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said.
About 30 US states, as well as the federal government, have already banned the use of TikTok on government-owned devices. Countries such as the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Denmark and India have also taken similar steps in recent months.
In April, the United Kingdom’s privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office, fined the app £12.7 million ($15.9 million) for mishandling children’s data, including for not giving consent. received from their parents before processing their information.
In March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew made his first public appearance at a US congressional hearing to raise concerns about user privacy in the country.
Chew emphasized that TikTok is “not owned or controlled by the Chinese government,” highlighting that it is headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles. He also praised a $1.5 billion initiative to create a US-based storage program through contracts with Oracle Corporation, a multinational technology company based in Austin, Texas.
“We believe we are the only company that offers this level of transparency,” he said at the hearing.
But Chew faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. “Your platform should be banned,” Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers told him at one point.
TikTok has said it was under pressure from US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to either sell its US operations to another party or face potential restrictions.
In March, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee voted in favor of a bill authorizing the president to restrict all transactions involving TikTok, a measure that, if passed by the full Congress, could allow for a ban.
Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, sought a full ban on the platform, citing national security concerns — but a federal court eventually found he had overstepped his authority by doing so.