The Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte has just signed into law the country’s strongest restrictions on TikTok the Chinese-owned social media app.
TikTok has in recent times faced enormous pressure in the U.S. from Congress along with state legislatures, but Montana’s actions amplify those threats significantly, even if enforcement remains a question.
“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” Gianforte said.
Gianforte claimed in a statement that it is “well documented” that TikTok shares data with the Chinese government — a claim that is not supported by public information about the app and how it works.
While there is no evidence that TikTok or its parent company ByteDance ever shared app data with the Chinese government, TikTok has admitted to an incident in which employees spied on journalists’ locations using app data — a scandal that is frequently brought up in discussions about the app and privacy concerns.
Also, read: China Had ‘Supreme Access’ to All Data: Says Former ByteDance Executive
Montana lawmakers introduced the TikTok ban bill earlier this year, sparking a firestorm of debate about the ban and other proposals to limit the app’s use in the United States. While restrictions on TikTok use on government devices and campus networks are already common, Montana’s ban is intended to prevent app stores from distributing the app to any users within the state.
It remains to be seen whether that is even possible. Google and Apple are likely to oppose state-level laws that restrict where apps can be downloaded within the United States, lest they face the logistical nightmare of more state legislatures issuing their own bans on TikTok or other apps. TikTok users are likely to oppose the Montana law as well, and the company has already been leveraging its enthusiastic user base to oppose it.
There are many unknowns about how this will all play out, but one certainty is that Montana’s newest law will be challenged in court in the coming months. We’ll be watching to see how things play out.
