Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill Thursday aimed at banning the social network TikTok nationwide. It's the most extreme legislation against the Chinese app and officials expect it to be the focus of a heated debate in Montana's Supreme Court.
The ban is expected to go into effect in early January and app stores will be required to download Tekitok for users in the country. "Today, Montana has taken the strongest action of any EU state to protect the private, personal and sensitive information of its residents from being collected by the Chinese Communist Party," the governor said.
The bill was introduced to the Montana Legislature in February and led to months of debate. The bill, which is expected to affect everyday users of the video app, is at the center of a major movement in the United States, especially within the Republican Party, to ban its use.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signs a bill banning TikTok,
Earlier this year, the United States banned the installation of the app on the mobile devices of civil servants, out of concern that the company that owns the social network, ByteDance, is passing information and data to authorities in Beijing.
TikTok, which claims to employ more than 7,000 people in the United States, says it has been fighting the law for months. She launched a pro showing how TikTok helps small businesses and sent emails to state lawmakers.
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