Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 into law on Wednesday, making Montana the first state in the nation to ban TikTok for its residents over national security concerns.
“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gianforte said in a statement. “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.”
To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana.
— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) May 17, 2023
TikTok is just one app tied to foreign adversaries. Today I directed the state’s Chief Information Officer to ban any application that provides personal information or data to foreign adversaries from the state network. pic.twitter.com/92Im6D9Jgx
— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) May 17, 2023
The ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2024, though it is likely to face a court challenge, as TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, argues the state’s actions violate the First Amendment.
“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,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement.
The American Civil Liberties Union also criticized the move.
“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” said ACLU of Montana’s Keegan Medrano. “We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”
Only distributors are subject to penalization, not TikTok users. App stores that continue offering TikTok to Montana’s 1.1 million residents could face $10,000 per violation, and $10,000 each day the violation continues.