US: Montana state lawmakers vote to completely ban TikTok

US state lawmakers have passed a bill to completely ban TikTok in Montana.

The bill, known as SB 419, would prohibit mobile app stores from offering TikTok for download to users in Montana.

The legislation was passed on Friday by lawmakers in Montana’s House voting 54-43 to give final approval to the bill. The bill now goes to Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte for approval to become law.

The US state of Montana is the first state in the United States to pass legislation banning TikTok on all personal devices operating within state lines and barring app stores from offering TikTok for downloads.

The bill banning TikTok is the strictest measure yet by a state government against the popular app.

The move came as US security officials have cited concerns and come just as some federal lawmakers have called for a national ban on TikTok.

Officials in the US have widely expressed fears that the Chinese government could potentially gain access to TikTok user data through its links to TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, and that such information could be used to benefit the Chinese.

Some governments have used their authority over official devices they control to restrict TikTok from smartphones, computers and WiFi networks. But the restrictions do not extend to personal devices.

The new legislation specifically names TikTok as a target of the bill, and outlines potential penalties of $10,000 per violation per day. The penalties would also apply to any app store found to have violated the law. Individual users of TikTok, meanwhile, would not be penalized for accessing TikTok.

“The governor will carefully consider any bill the legislature sends to his desk,” said Brooke Stroyke, a spokesperson for Gianforte. In December, Gianforte banned TikTok from state government devices and the following month urged the Montana University System to follow suit, which it did.

In the meantime, tech groups in the US have opposed the "dangerous" Montana bill, saying the legislation is against the US Constitution.

“This move from the Montana legislature sets a dangerous precedent that the government can try to ban any business it doesn’t like without clear evidence of wrongdoing,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice’s vice president and general counsel. “The US Constitution clearly forbids lawmakers from passing laws to criminalize a specific individual or business. Gov. Greg Gianforte should veto this clearly unconstitutional law.”

TikTok is likely to take action to oppose the bill.

China: US abusing state power with TikTok bans

China says the United States is abusing state power to impose bans on the Chinese-owned video app TikTok.

“The bill’s champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts,” said TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter. “We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”

So far, there has been no public evidence proving the Chinese government has in fact accessed the personal information of TikTok’s US users or used that data to influence them.

The US government has in the past made attempts to buy the app from its Chinese owners.

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