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The Montana bill is the latest skirmish in the duel between TikTok and many Western governments, with the app already banned on government devices in the US, Canada and several countries in Europe. Photo illustration: AFP
ChinaDiplomacy

TikTok ban: Montana set to become first US state to completely prohibit China-owned app

  • Watershed vote sets up legal fight with Chinese-owned platform, serving as test for national ban on the video-sharing app
  • TikTok decries ‘egregious government overreach’ and vows to continue to fight for app’s users and creators in Montana
US-China relations
Robert Delaney
Robert Delaneyin Washington
Why you can trust SCMP
Lawmakers in Montana voted on Friday to ban popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok, sending the matter to the US state’s governor to sign the first such blanket ban on the platform into law.

The Montana House voted 54 to 43 in favour of the ban, which is likely to trigger a series of court battles that could reach the US Supreme Court if Governor Greg Gianforte signs the bill.

Some 150 million Americans use TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, and some US lawmakers have spoken out against blanket bans enacted over concerns that the app gives the Chinese government access to user data.
Under the proposed law, which would take effect in 2024, Apple and Google would have to remove TikTok from their app stores, and companies found in violation would face daily fines of US$10,000.
In February, US President Joe Biden gave federal agencies 30 days to wipe TikTok off all government devices, and more than half of America’s 50 states have similar bans.

In a statement issued soon after the Montana vote, a TikTok spokeswoman in the US called the move an act of censorship.

“The bill’s champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalising this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts,” said TikTok’s 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.”

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While Republicans have made banning TikTok a priority, many Democrats have also been supportive of such a move.

Senators Mark Warner, a Democrat, and John Thune, a Republican, have jointly sponsored the RESTRICT Act, which would to give the Commerce Department power to ban TikTok and other apps that pose potential national security vulnerabilities. With 25 Senate cosponsors, bipartisan support has been growing.

Meanwhile, in addition to American president’s order to ban the app on federal government-issued devices, the Biden administration said in an executive order last month that TikTok would face a ban in the US if ByteDance did not divest the app.

Some US lawmakers have backed the argument that blanket bans on TikTok or any other similar platforms amount to censorship.

Last month, US Republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked a move by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, a vocal critic of Beijing and fellow Republican, to get unanimous consent for a TikTok ban bill. Paul cited concerns about free speech and uneven treatment of social media companies.

“I think we should beware of those who use fear to coax Americans to relinquish our liberties,” Paul said on the Senate floor.

“Every accusation of data gathering that has been attributed to TikTok could also be attributed to domestic big tech companies.”

New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, said in a TikTok video posted at the same time that a ban would be “unprecedented” and added: “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

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