Montana lawmakers released their final word on Friday on a bill banning social media app TikTok from the state, a move that will definitely face legal challenges but in addition function a testing ground for a TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned.
The measure now goes to Republican governor Greg Gianforte for consideration.
The state house voted 54-43 to pass the bill, which works beyond the bans in nearly half of the states and the US federal government that ban TikTok on government devices. Montana already bans the app on state devices.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in an announcement that “We will proceed to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government.”
Supporters of the bill “admitted that that they had no viable plan to operationalize this try and censor American votes, and that the constitutionality of the bill can be decided by the courts,” Oberwetter said.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over concerns it could be handing over user data to the Chinese government or spreading pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform.
Leaders of the FBI, CIA, and diverse lawmakers of each parties have voiced these concerns, but have offered no evidence that this has happened.
Proponents of the ban point to 2 Chinese laws that oblige firms within the country to cooperate with the federal government within the work of state intelligence.
TikTok said its servers containing details about US users are situated in Texas.
