In an unprecedented move, the U.S. state of Montana has officially banned the use of TikTok, receiving a signature on the bill from Governor Greg Gianforte. Extra details state that there will be a massive fine to pay for anyone violating the bill, though there are still some unanswered questions, with some reports believing that the decision could be overturned.
Each TikTok ban violation will cost $10,000, but it is not expected to go into effect before January 1, 2024
The details published by The Wall Street Journal state that under the bill, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, will not be allowed to operate in Montana. In a nutshell, this means that anyone using the app in the U.S. state will not be fined $10,000 per violation per day, but that amount will be taken out of ByteDance’s pocket. In addition, any app store also distributing the app will be held responsible for this violation, which means Apple and Google.
However, while the U.S. has taken the all-important step towards banning TikTok in one state, a complete barring of the app is not expected to happen until January 1, 2024. Also, during this time difference of seven months, there may be a mountain of legal challenges that might become too overwhelming, though Montana claims that it wants to be a leader when it comes to banning TikTok in the U.S.
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
In a statement, Governor Gianforte stated that TikTok shares data with the Chinese government. Unfortunately for the Montana official, his claim has not been supplemented with evidence, nor has there been evidence that ByteDance has provided information to the Chinese government. However, TikTok has separately admitted that its employees spied on journalists’ locations using app data, which is a development that raised multiple privacy concerns around the app.
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
We have to see if the TikTok ban remains immutable, and we will undoubtedly hear about ByteDance’s legal team fighting about this skirmish in the courts. It is also possible that Google and Apple will push back on state-level laws that limit where apps can be downloaded within the U.S. Last but certainly not least, banning TikTok will not force its users to follow the same path, as there are some passionate creators on the platform who will definitely oppose this decision. While we wait to see how everything plays out, you can check out the bill in its entirety here.
Refference- https://wccftech.com
0 Comments