One State Becomes The First In The Nation To Ban TikTok

Montana is set to become the first state to prohibit the use of TikTok.

The state legislature passed a bill, 54-43, that will make it mandatory for app stores to delete the app in that state.

Now, the bill will go to Republican Governor Greg Gianforte who had already halted the app from being downloaded on state-owned devices.

The measure will be implemented in 2024 even though some other legal action may happen before then.

The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, spoke at a Congressional hearing last month where he attempted to allude that TikTok wasn’t linked to ByteDance and China.

At the same time, the U.S. is attempting to get ByteDance to break away from TikTok altogether. Thus, Montana’s ban could be an example for the rest of the nation.

The Montana bill asserts that TikTok’s connection to ByteDance puts the U.S.’s data at risk. This is because the business could be led to hand over information to the Chinese government.

TikTok has consistently stated that the accusations aren’t true. They have also put billions of dollars into Project Texas, a project implemented to deal with national security issues.

After the bill passed, a representative of TikTok stated that it was “egregious government overreach” and added that they will “fight” the bill. The company added that the proposed measure would cause small businesses that use the app to suffer.