On Wednesday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill prohibiting the use of TikTok, the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app, in the state..
Montana has become the first state to prohibit the viral app and block mobile app stores from hosting it..
As Chinese tech giant ByteDance owns the app, TikTok is at risk of being banned in the US. Lawmakers are calling for a ban due to concerns about possible Chinese government influence on the platform, but the app has yet to respond publicly.
Lawmakers in Montana made a decisive move last April by passing a resolution to prohibit the use of a controversial app on state soil. Beyond the national security concerns that led other states and the US federal government to make similar bans, Montana’s legislation stands out, according to a previous report by The Washington Post..
According to electronic security experts, the highly lauded app with over a billion users could be utilized to compile data and share it with the Chinese government, warranting caution for its usage.
The TikTok app has been banned on government-owned devices in the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, and Taiwan.
In December of last year, the CEOs of ByteDance and TikTok acknowledged that their company’s personnel had accessed the IP addresses of American users – including journalists who had written pieces critical of the company.
