Montana became the first state in the U.S. to completely ban TikTok on Wednesday when Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a measure that’s more sweeping than any other state’s attempts to curtail the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese tech company.
The measure is expected to be challenged legally and will
serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many national
lawmakers have envisioned.
“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,” Gianforte said in a statement.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter argued that the law
infringes on people’s First Amendment rights and is unlawful.
“We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using
TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue
working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana,”
Oberwetter said in a statement.
Some lawmakers, the FBI and officials at other agencies are
concerned the video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, could be used to allow the
Chinese government to access information on American citizens or push
pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok says none of
this has ever happened.
When Montana banned the app on government-owned devices in
late December, Gianforte said TikTok posed a “significant risk” to sensitive
state data. More than half of U.S. states and the federal government have a
similar ban.
On Wednesday, Gianforte also announced he was prohibiting
the use of all social media applications tied to foreign adversaries on state
equipment and for state businesses in Montana effective on June 1. Among the
apps he listed are WeChat, whose parent company is headquartered in China; and
Telegram Messenger, which was founded in Russia.
The legislation, drafted by the attorney general’s office,
easily passed through Montana’s GOP-controlled Legislature.
Gianforte had wanted to expand the TikTok bill to include
apps tied to foreign adversaries, but the legislature did not send the bill to
him until after the session ended, preventing him from offering any amendments.
Montana’s new law prohibits downloads of TikTok in the state
and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each
time someone “is offered the ability” to access the social media platform or
download the app. The penalties would not apply to users.
Opponents consider the measure to be government overreach
and say Montana residents could easily circumvent the ban by using a virtual
private network, a service that shields internet users by encrypting their data
traffic, preventing others from observing their web browsing. Montana state
officials say geofencing technology is used with online sports gambling apps,
which are deactivated in states where online gambling is illegal.
TikTok, which has said it has a plan to protect U.S. users,
has vowed to fight back against the ban, along with small business owners who
said they use the app for advertising to help grow their businesses and reach
more customers. The ACLU of Montana opposed the bill, arguing it was an
unconstitutional restriction of free speech.
The app’s fun, goofy videos and ease of use has made it
immensely popular, and U.S. tech giants like Snapchat and Meta, the parent
company of Facebook and Instagram, see it as a competitive threat.
Though many lawmakers in Montana have been enthusiastic
about a ban, experts who followed the bill closely said the state will likely
have to defend the legislation in court.
NetChoice, a trade group that counts Google and TikTok as
its members, called the bill unconstitutional.
“This is a clear violation of the Constitution, which
prohibits the government from blocking Americans from accessing
constitutionally-protected speech online via websites or apps,” Carl Szabo, who
serves as the group’s vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.
Officials are also bound to receive criticism from advocacy
groups and TikTok users who don’t want their favorite app to be taken away.
TikTok has been recruiting so-called influencers and small businesses who use
the platform to push back on a ban. But others who haven’t been part of an
official campaign coordinated by the company are also worried about what
lawmakers are doing.
Adam Botkin, a former football player and recent graduate at
the University of Montana, said it was a scary time for him as a content
creator in Montana. The 22-year-old has nearly 170,000 followers on TikTok,
where he mostly posts short videos of himself performing football kicks.
He says he sometimes makes “tens of thousands” of dollars
per month from brands looking to market their products on his social media
accounts, including Instagram, where he has roughly 44,000 followers.
Botkin says most of his income comes from Instagram, which
is believed to be more lucrative for content creators. But he has to grow his
following on that platform — and others — to have the same level of popularity
that he does on TikTok. He says he’s trying to do that, and won’t try to
circumvent the TikTok ban by using a VPN.
“You got to adapt and evolve with how things move,” Botkin
said. “So, if I have to adapt and move, I’ll adapt.”
Chatter about a TikTok ban has been around since 2020, when
then-President Donald Trump attempted to bar the company from operating in the
U.S. through an executive order that was halted in federal courts. President
Joe Biden’s administration initially shelved those plans, but more recently
threatened to ban the app if the company’s Chinese owners don’t sell their
stakes.
TikTok doesn’t want either option and has been clamoring to
prove it’s free of any Chinese government interference or manipulation. It’s
also touting a data safety plan it calls “Project Texas” to assuage bipartisan
concerns in Washington.
At the same time, some lawmakers have emerged as allies,
arguing efforts to restrict data harvesting practices need to include all
social media companies, not just one. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky
blocked a bill in March that would ban TikTok nationally, saying such a move
would violate the Constitution and anger the millions of voters who use the
app.
Montana’s TikTok ban also comes amid a growing movement to
limit social media use among kids and teens and, in some cases, impose bans.
Several bills circulating in Congress aim to get at the issue, including one
that would prohibit all children under the age of 13 from using social media
and require permission from a guardian for users under 18 to create an account.
Some states, like Utah and Arkansas, have already enacted
laws that would hinge social media use on parental consent and similar bills
are in the works in other states. Last year, California enacted a law that
would require companies to beef up data protection practices for children and
offer them the highest privacy settings.