(San Francisco) The governor of Montana on Wednesday signed into law the law banning TikTok in the US state, marking the start of a likely legal battle all the way to Washington, where Congress is considering banning the popular app nationwide .
“To protect the personal and private data of users from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” tweeted Greg Gianforte, the Republican governor of this northwestern state, which has just over 1 million people. ‘residents.
PHOTO GARRETT TURNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Greg Gianforte, the Republican governor of Montana, signing the law on Wednesday
TikTok is owned by Chinese group ByteDance, and many US lawmakers believe the short, entertaining video platform, frequented by 150 million Americans, allows Beijing to spy on and manipulate users. The app has always denied it.
The Montana Capitol had adopted a text in mid-April which orders mobile application stores (Apple and Google) to no longer distribute TikTok from 1er January 2024. Affected companies risk fines of $10,000 a day for each violation, but users won’t be bothered.
This law “infringes the rights of Montana citizens” in terms of freedom of expression, reacted a spokesperson for TikTok on Wednesday, referring to the First Amendment to the American Constitution.
The constitutionality of this text will be decided in court. We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana.
A TikTok spokeswoman, in a statement ahead of the vote
In addition to the issue of data and misinformation, elected officials accuse TikTok of harmful effects on the health of the youngest (addiction, depression). Some Democratic representatives have replied that other social networks, such as Instagram, deserve to be regulated on all these subjects.
“Anti-Chinese sentiment”
The powerful civil rights group ACLU has also accused the state of censorship.
“With this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature are trampling on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montana residents who use this app to express themselves, find information and promote their small business, on behalf of anti-China sentiment,” Keegan Medrano, an official with the local ACLU branch, said in a statement on Wednesday.
The law would be invalidated if TikTok were to be acquired by an American company (or a country not enemy of the United States).
The White House has encouraged TikTok to seek this type of solution if it wants to be able to stay in the country.
The administration of Joe Biden is discussing with Congress several bills aimed at banning the application, while the decrees already issued by his predecessor Donald Trump in this direction had failed.