By Amy Beth Hanson and Hallelujah Hadero - The Associated Press
Montana became the first state on Friday to pass a bill banning the use of the social networking app TikTok, a move that will no doubt face legal challenges, but will also serve as a testing ground for other territories. where concerns about possible Chinese espionage are growing.
The state House of Representatives voted 54-43 in favor of the measure, which goes beyond the prohibitions already established by almost half of the states - including Montana - and the federal Administration to veto TikTok on government-owned devices.
A cell phone with the TikTok logoNurPhoto via Getty Images
The measure will ban downloading of the TikTok app in the state and will fine any "entity" $10,000 a day each time they "offer the ability" to access or download the app on their device.
The regulation does not contemplate sanctions for users.
The ban won't take effect until January 2024 and will be lifted if Congress passes a national measure or if TikTok cuts its ties with China.
The bill was introduced in February, just weeks after a Chinese spy balloon flew over Montana, though it had already been drafted by then.
The rule now goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who declined to say Friday whether he plans to sign it into law.
His spokeswoman, Brooke Metrione, said the governor will "carefully consider" all bills the Legislature sends to his desk.
[Why TikTok's security risks continue to raise concern]
Gianforte banned TikTok from state government devices last year, arguing at the time that the app posed a "significant risk" to preserving sensitive state information.
TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter vowed to bring the measure to justice, noting that supporters of the bill "have admitted they have no viable plan" to enforce "this attempt to censor American voices."
The company "will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach," Oberwetter said.
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TikTok, owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, has come under intense scrutiny over concerns that it might hand over user data to the Chinese government or spread pro-China propaganda and disinformation on the platform.
FBI and CIA officials, as well as numerous lawmakers from both parties, have raised these concerns, but have not produced any evidence that this happened.
Proponents of the social network ban point to two Chinese laws that force Chinese companies to cooperate with the government in state intelligence work.
They also cite troubling episodes in the relationship between the company and authorities, after ByteDance revealed in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while trying to discover the source of a leaked report about the company. .
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Congress is considering a law that does not specifically target TikTok, but instead gives the Commerce Department the ability to more broadly restrict foreign threats on technology platforms.
This bill has the backing of the White House, but has been met with rejection by privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and other groups who say its rhetoric is too broad.
TikTok has said it has a plan to protect US user data.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, whose office wrote the state measure, said in a message posted to his social media sites Friday that the bill "is a critical step to ensure that we are protecting the privacy of Montanans." , although he acknowledged that a legal battle is coming.
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A representative for technology trade group TechNet told state lawmakers that online app stores do not have the ability to geo-fence apps in each state, so the Apple App Store and Google Play Store would not be able to enforce the law.
Ashley Sutton, executive director of TechNet for Washington state and the Northwest, argued Thursday that "the onus should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not on an app store."
Montana's attorney general has argued that online gambling apps can be disabled in states that don't allow it, a mechanism that should be enforceable on TikTok.