Montana becomes first state to ban TikTok in the US

• Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a law banning TikTok this week.
• It’s the first law banning an app in the country.
• TikTok is fighting the ban.

MONTANA BANS TIKTOK! On Wednesday May 17, Montana became the first state to ban the TikTok video app. Governor Greg Gianforte shared the news on social media.

He shared a brief message on Twitter announcing the new law. «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.»

Montana bans TikTok

Governor Gianforte also shared a document explaining the ban. He claims the app is harvesting user’s personal data and can be used for spying.

«TikTok is just an app tied to foreign adversaries. Today I have ordered the state’s Director of Information to ban any app that provides personal information or data to foreign adversaries of the state network,” he wrote in the post.

The bill was approved a month ago

According to EFE, the Montana state legislature last month approved a bill aimed at banning the platform, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, on the mobile devices of all its residents.

This ban goes well beyond the law that the federal government and 25 other states have banning public officials from installing TikTok on work phones.

When would the new law go into effect?

Although the law has been signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, it will not go into effect until January 2024.

The Associated Press reports that the measure, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, is expected to be legally challenged and serve as the testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned.