Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has officially signed a ban on using TikTok from personal devices.
The law, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2024, will ban individuals in the state from accessing popular video-sharing platforms.
You can read more about this ban here: Montana Becomes First US State to Pass TikTok Ban
A TikTok spokesperson commented on the news, saying the ban violates the First Amendment rights of Montana residents. For this reason, the company plans to challenge the bill in court.
“As we continue our work to protect our users’ rights both inside and outside Montana, we want to remind the people of Montana that they can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok. We want to reassure you,” the company said in a statement.
Lorraine Kenny of the Knight First Amendment Institute echoed TikTok’s view, saying that using TikTok to post and view content is clearly a First Amendment law for Montana people. said it was an exercise of the rights of
“This law will almost certainly be revoked as unconstitutional because Montana cannot prove that the ban is necessary or tailored to legitimate interests,” Kenny added.
But rising concerns over data privacy and possible surveillance by the Chinese government have led to increased scrutiny of video-sharing platforms globally. These were sparked by the fact that Chinese media giant ByteDance owns TikTok.
Republican Governor Gianforte says the ban is consistent with efforts to protect Montanas from Chinese Communist Party surveillance.
Still, while the law prohibits app stores from offering TikTok, it doesn’t restrict existing users of the app, which currently has about 150 million users in the US.
In March, a parliamentary committee questioned TikTok CEO Zhou Zhi Chu about the influence of the Chinese government and possible data access. Mr. Chu denied the spying allegations, but admitted that employees abused his TikTok account.
Editorial image credit: salarko / Shutterstock.com
