Mon May 22, 2023 – 4:25 pm EDT
HELENA, Montana (LifeSiteNews) — The Republican-led state of Montana on Wednesday became the first to entirely ban TikTok, the most sweeping state action to date against the Chinese-owned social media app. The ban is slated to take effect in January 2024.
Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 on May 17, prohibiting app stores from providing TikTok to Montana-based users. Owned by Chinese corporation ByteDance and boasting 150 million American users, TikTok has sparked national security worries from both sides of the political aisle due to its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In a Wednesday press release, Gov. Gianforte said it’s been “well-documented” that the CCP is “using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information.”
“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
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
In addition to TikTok,
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