According to a breaking story published on Wednesday evening, Montana’s Republican Legislature has now backed the first-ever U.S. State-wide ban on the social media platform TikTok.
BREAKING: Montana has become the first state to completely ban TikTok after the governor signed the most sweeping measure in the U.S. attempting to curtail the app. https://t.co/89gjAqmwJZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 17, 2023
The Associated Press
HELENA (AP) — Montana has become the first U.S. State to completely ban TikTok. The Republican Governor of the State signed a measure that was more comprehensive than any other effort to curb social media applications.
The measure is a legal challenge and will serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many legislators in America have imagined.
This does not mean that Montana has already banned government use.
Montana’s governor banned TikTok from government-owned phones at the end of December. Greg Gianforte said that TikTok posed a “significant risk” to sensitive state data. Over half of the U.S. states and the federal government have similar restrictions.
This is a brief overview of the new legislation.
Montana’s new law bans the downloading of TikTok in the state. App stores or TikTok would be fined up to $10,000 a day for “allowing” users to access or download the social media platform.
In a previous report, we reported that the Montana Legislature was able to pass the legislation without any issues in mid-April.
Montana didn’t wait until the Biden Administration fixed a possible weak link in national safety. On Friday, the state became the first U.S. state to ban the social media platform TikTok which is connected to the Chinese government. […]
Brooke Oberwetter, the TikTok spokesperson, released a press release immediately following the passage of the law:
We’ll continue to defend the rights of TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods have been put at risk, and whose First Amendment has been violated because of this outrageous government overreach.
We will keep you informed, as we anticipate that lawsuits will follow the passage of this law. This is breaking news and there will be updates.
