Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed a bill banning TikTok, with the law set to come into effect on January 1, 2024.
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The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform has been at the center of privacy concerns, with lawmakers in Washington increasingly calling for a wider ban.
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"To protect Montanans' personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana," Gianforte wrote on Twitter.
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The state is aiming to punish companies like Apple and Google with a $10,000 fine for every day that TikTok is still available on their stores.
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Each time "a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok" it is considered a violation, according to a copy of the law published on the state's website.
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Users, however, will not be penalized.
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If TikTok is sold to a company that is not based in "any country designated as a foreign adversary" by the US government, the Montana ban would essentially be void.
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Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for the social media platform, argued that the law infringes on people's right to freedom of expression.
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"We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana," Oberwetter said in a statement.
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TikTok was widely expected to take the matter to court, but Oberwetter declined to say whether the company would file a lawsuit.
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TikTok has previously said that Beijing was not interfering in its operation.
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Since 2020, US officials have sought to curtail TikTok. Then-President Donald Trump tried to stop the company from operating in the country before his order was blocked by federal courts.
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Some US states, like Utah and Arkansas, have enacted laws linking children and teenagers' social media use to parental consent.
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