Global Courant 2023-05-18 05:48:19
TikTok logo displayed on a mobile phone.
Hyoung Chang | Denver Post | Getty Images
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation Wednesday to ban China-owned TikTok from operating in the state to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China, making it the first U.S. state to ban the popular short video app prohibits.
Montana will make it illegal for the Google and Apple app stores to offer TikTok within the state, but will not impose sanctions on individuals using the app. The ban will take effect January 1, 2024 and will almost certainly face legal challenges.
TikTok, owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, did not respond to a Reuters question about whether it plans legal action.
Earlier, TikTok issued a statement saying the new law “infringes the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok,” and said it “will continue to work to protect the rights of our users within and outside of Montana”.
TikTok, which has more than 150 million U.S. users, faced increasing calls from U.S. lawmakers and government officials to ban the app across the country over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform.
The app has become extremely popular with teenagers. According to the Pew Research Center, 67% of US teens ages 13 to 17 use TikTok and 16% of all teens say they use the app almost constantly. TikTok has said the “vast majority” of its users are over the age of 18.
In March, a congressional committee grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on whether the Chinese government has access to user data or can influence what Americans see in the app. But calls to ban TikTok nationwide or give the Biden administration new powers to crack down on or ban TikTok have gone no further in Congress.
Gianforte, a Republican, said the bill will advance “our shared priority of protecting Montanans from surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok has repeatedly denied it ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company will not do so if asked.
Free speech ‘trampled on’
Montana, which has a population of just over a million, said TikTok could face fines for any violation and additional fines of $10,000 per day if it violates the ban.
The short video app can be downloaded from app stores at Apple and Google devices. Apple and Google, a unity of Alphabetcan also face fines of $10,000 per violation, per day if they violate the ban.
Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the law “unconstitutional” and noted that it will take effect on January 1 if the courts do nothing.
“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana Legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montana residents who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small businesses in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment.” said Keegan. Medrano, policy director at Montana’s ACLU, said in a statement.
An attempt by former President Donald Trump to ban new TikTok and WeChat downloads through a 2020 Commerce Department order was blocked by multiple courts and never took effect.
TikTok’s allies for free speech include several Democratic members of Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and First Amendment groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
Industry group NetChoice General Counsel Carl Szabo also criticized the new law. “The government should not block our ability to access constitutionally protected speech — whether in a newspaper, on a website, or through an app,” he said in a statement, adding that Montana “underwrites the U.S. Constitution, a due process and freedom of expression.”
Gianforte, who had tried to convince the state legislature to extend the ban to other social media applications that provide certain data to foreign opponents, also banned the use of all social media applications that collect and provide personal information or data to foreign opponents of the state government. -issued devices.
TikTok is working on an initiative called Project Texas, which is creating a standalone entity to store US user data in the US on servers operated by a US technology company Oracle.
