The law, which comes into effect from January 1, will fine companies that offer the Tik Tok application up to $10,000 a day.
The state of Montana, with a population of just over one million residents, this week became the first state in the United States to ban the use of TikTok, a measure to which the application responded by assuring it was to “protect users”. Will go to court for. ,
Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to take effect on January 1, and through which companies offering the Tik Tok application would be fined $10,000 a day.
The measure adopted by the governor of Montana is another sign of mistrust that exists in the United States regarding the application, arguing that it could be used by the Chinese government to obtain personal information from millions of Americans.
A well-founded concern considering that the TikTok platform, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has nearly 100 million users in that country.
The mistrust of the US was also reflected in the ban on US public employees from installing the application on their cell phones.
Meanwhile, ByteDance confirmed that it is working to “protect the rights of its users” as the owner of TikTok.
“We want to guarantee that residents of Montana can continue to use TikTok to express themselves, earn a living or build a community,” the company said.
User to charge
Various TikTok users have already announced legal action to prevent the law from taking effect, despite the mistrust of the central government and the state of Montana.
There are many among them who use the app as a form of entertainment, but there are others for whom TikTok is an important part of their business.
As reported by CNN, the content creator says that banning the application violates freedom of expression.
“Montana can’t ban its residents from watching or posting on TikTok any more than it can ban The Wall Street Journal because of who it owns or the views it posts,” he argued.
The office of the Attorney General of Montana, Austin Knudsen, said via a statement that “we expected a legal dispute and we stand ready to defend the law.”
Any app to spy?
US officials’ skepticism about TikTok, which is shared by the FBI, part of Congress and various state authorities, is rooted in the possibility that China uses it to spy on US citizens.
And according to what they say, Beijing has laws that could force technology companies to share their users’ data with intelligence services.
From the app, however, they deny that this will happen and maintain that they are always implementing new measures to protect their users’ data.
