The Montana ban is the toughest ever approved by a US territory and goes beyond a veto enacted by the federal government to prevent public officials from having TikTok on their mobile phones.
The governor of Montana (USA), Republican Greg Gianforte, signed a law on Wednesday, becoming the first state in the country to ban the popular social platform, which bans the use of Chinese application TikTok.
Gianforte reported the move on his Twitter account: “In order to protect the private and personal data of Chinese Communist Party climbers, I have banned TikTok in the state”, he wrote.
The Montana state Congress last month approved a bill aimed at banning the platform, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, from the mobile devices of all its residents.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed an order banning TikTok in the state. garrett turner
Montana’s ban is the toughest ever approved by a US territory and goes beyond a ban that the federal government and half of the country’s 50 states have enacted to prevent public officials from keeping TikTok on their mobiles.
Concerns have been raised by various quarters, including the FBI, members of Congress and state officials, that TikTok could be used by Beijing for espionage purposes, as the app is owned by a China-based company.
The Asian country has security laws that could force technology companies to share data with its intelligence services, but TikTok and other companies argue these concerns are misplaced and have taken a number of measures to protect their users’ data. has been implemented.
As reported in the US media in March, the Joe Biden government has threatened TikTok owner ByteDance to ban the social network across the United States if it does not sell the shares it holds in the popular application.
TikTok has around 100 million users in the United States and in a short time has become one of the most popular social networks in the world, especially among teenagers.
