Montana Officially Becomes First State To Ban TikTok

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte has officially banned TikTok in the state. The Governor shared that he signed into law the restriction on Wednesday.

The decision follows months of deliberation over whether or not TikTok should be banned in the U.S. In March, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) ordered parent company ByteDance to either sell its stakes in TikTok, threatening them with a ban. The same month, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before Congress, answering questions such as how the app verifies ages and how it stores data.

“To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” Governor Gianforte wrote in a tweet.

“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.”

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

The Governor also instituted a ban on “social media applications tied to foreign adversaries,” naming Temu, WeChat and Telegram.

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