The IT Nerd

After being passed by lawmakers in the state recently. Montana is now the first U.S. state to ban TikTok after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban the app from operating in the state:

Montana will make it unlawful for Google and Apple’s app stores to offer TikTok within the state, but will not impose any penalties on individuals using the app. The ban is to take effect Jan. 1, 2024, and is almost certain to face legal challenges.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the first lawsuits to be filed. I’m guessing that it will be filed by TikTok based on this:

Earlier, TikTok issued a statement saying that the new law “infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok,” and said it will “continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.”

You can understand why TikTok would take that position. They don’t want laws like this to spread like wildfire. Nor do they want the US government to do the same thing. My guess is that this is about to blow up as this is a crisis for the Chinese owned social media app.

This entry was posted on May 18, 2023 at 10:18 am and is filed under Commentary with tags TikTok. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.