The governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, approved a law that would ban Apple and Google’s digital stores from offering Chinese apps for download to their users, a measure that would take effect on the first day of 2024. The announcement has received many criticisms for the opposition, claiming that it violates the country’s First Constitutional Amendment and is expected to be challenged legally.
“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect private data and the sensitive personal information of Montana citizens from exploitation by the Chinese Communist Party,” the Republican governor announced in a statement to the public.
The measure establishes that ByteDance, the maker of TikTok, will be fined $10,000 if it does not follow the rules, just as it would if Silicon Valley giants Apple and Google violate the prohibition. and offer the application to its users, they must pay a fine of the same amount for each day the application is available to citizens of Montana.
In March of this year, a committee of congressmen met with TikTok’s chief operating officer, Shou Zi Chew, to express their disagreement with the operation of the application and to question whether the Chinese government had access to US users’ information. can reach. The Chinese company has rejected these theories on several occasions.
