US Montana to Block TikTok Downloads Starting Next Year

First Among the 50 US States... WeChat and Telegram Also Restricted
Governor: "Sensitive Personal Information Must Not Be Transferred to China"

Starting next year, the state of Montana in the United States will impose a complete ban on the use of TikTok, the video platform owned by China's ByteDance. This is the first such ban among the 50 states in the U.S.

According to foreign media including the AP News on the 18th (local time), Greg Gianforte, the Republican governor of Montana, signed the TikTok ban bill passed by the state legislature the day before. Once the law officially takes effect on January 1st next year, app markets such as Google Play Store and Apple App Store must disable TikTok downloads within Montana. If TikTok is downloaded or accessed in Montana, the app markets or TikTok itself will face a fine of $10,000 (approximately 13.3 million KRW) per day. However, individual users will not be penalized.

On the 17th (local time), Greg Gianforte, Governor of Montana, USA, is signing the TikTok ban bill at his office in Helena, Montana.
[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Governor Gianforte said in a statement released the day before, "Today, Montana has taken firmer action than any other state to prevent residents' private data and sensitive personal information from falling into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party." The TikTok ban bill, drafted earlier by the state attorney general's office, passed easily through the Republican-majority state legislature.

After the bill's passage, Governor Gianforte submitted an amendment to the legislature to expand the ban to all social networking service (SNS) applications linked to "foreign adversaries," but the session ended before it could be finalized, so TikTok alone became the legal target of the ban. Instead, he announced a policy starting June 1st to prohibit the use of SNS related to "foreign adversaries" on state-owned equipment and in businesses. Among the banned apps are WeChat, headquartered in China, and Telegram, developed in Russia.

However, TikTok and civic groups have strongly opposed the ban. Brooke Oberwetter, TikTok spokesperson, stated, "Governor Gianforte has illegally signed a bill banning TikTok that infringes on Montanans' First Amendment rights (freedom of expression)." She added, "We want to assure Montanans that they can continue to use TikTok to express themselves, make a living, and find community."

Progressive civic groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union Montana chapter and organizations like NetChoice, which includes Google and TikTok, are also opposing the TikTok ban law as unconstitutional. Additionally, the effectiveness of the law itself is in question. Even if app usage is legally blocked, it can be easily circumvented by using virtual private networks (VPNs) that encrypt internet data traffic.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

Currently, it is known that there are 150 million TikTok users in the U.S., which means nearly half of the approximately 330 million U.S. population as of 2021 use TikTok.

Some U.S. lawmakers and government agencies such as the FBI have regarded TikTok as a national security threat for years. They worry that the Chinese government could access information about U.S. citizens or spread pro-China fake news through TikTok. TikTok has continuously denied these claims as "baseless," but recently a former ByteDance executive claimed that "TikTok has served as a propaganda tool for the Chinese government."

The AP News assessed, "Montana's TikTok ban law is likely to become embroiled in legal disputes and will be a test for many lawmakers who have dreamed of a 'TikTok-free America.'"