The State of Montana has announced that governor Greg Gianforte has signed Senate Bill 419, a piece of legislation that would make Montana the first state in the nation to ban Tiktok and prohibit app stores from offering the app within the state. The new law comes a few months after Gianforte prohibited the use of TikTok on state equipment and for state business in Montana, and while protecting Montanans’ personal, private, and sensitive data and information from intelligence gathering by the Chinese Communist Party has been given as one reason as to why the bill was signed, the new rules may also help curb some of the weirder trends that TikTok has prompted as of late among state residents, including the Kia Challenge and NyQuil Challenge. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, offers a number of other apps that include Lemon8 and CapCut, a video editor.
“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gov. Gianforte said. “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.”
From a Montana.gov press release:
The governor signed Senate Bill 419, making Montana the first state in the nation to ban TikTok and prohibit mobile application stores from offering TikTok within the state. Penalties will be enforced by the Montana Department of Justice. Sen. Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade, sponsored Senate Bill 419.
Last month, the governor proposed amendments to the bill to expand the ban to all social media applications that collect and provide users’ personal information or data to a foreign adversary, or a person or entity located within a country designated as a foreign adversary. The legislature gaveled out before lawmakers could consider the governor’s amendments.
In line with his proposed amendments to the bill and building upon his December ban of TikTok for state business, Governor Gianforte today prohibited the use of all social media applications that collect and provide personal information or data to foreign adversaries on government-issued devices, while connected to the state network, or for state business in Montana.