Montana on Thursday was on the verge of implementing a total ban on TikTok, after a proposal passed a key hurdle in the legislature of the western US state.
If enacted, the proposed law would be unprecedented and test the legal waters for a national ban of the popular Chinese-owned app, a fate that is increasingly being called for in Washington.
The state’s Republican-led lower house overwhelmingly voted for a complete ban, with a final vote set for yesterday before it is sent to Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, who is expected to sign the bill into law.
Photo: AP
It passed by 60 votes for and 39 against.
TikTok said US courts would likely have the final word.
“The bill’s champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts,” TikTok spokeswoman Brooke Oberwetter said. “We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and first amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”
TikTok, despite its immense popularity, is caught in a battle of wills with the US government and politicians, and now faces an ultimatum by the White House that it split from its Chinese owners or stop operating in the US.
“We are facing a threat unlike any other from the Chinese Communist Party hiding behind TikTok where they can spy on Americans by collecting personal information by keystrokes and even user locations,” Montana Representative Brandon Ler said.
Under the proposed law, Apple and Google would have to remove TikTok from their app stores and companies would face daily fines of US$10,000 if they are found contravening the law.
The proposed ban would take effect next year, but faces almost certain legal challenges, given its unprecedented nature in the US, possibly going all the way to the US Supreme Court in Washington.
“I think there are a lot of ramifications, not the least of which is how you would do it,” University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said. “It is hard to see how the state would be able to defend it and win.”
When an earlier version of the bill passed in the Montana Senate, TikTok decried a “disastrous precedent” to limit free speech.
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