Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Russian Ministry of Defense: 37 Ukrainian drones destroyed in 4 hours over regions of Russia and the Black Sea.
Sheikh Qassem: Our supporters make up more than half of Lebanon's population, and all of these people are united under the banner of protecting Lebanon, its Resistance, its people, and its integrity.
Sheikh Qassem: There will be no phased handing in of our arms. [The Israelis] must first enact the agreement before we start talking about a defensive strategy.
Sheikh Qassem: Be brave in the face of foreign pressures, and we will be by your side in this stance.
Sheikh Qassem: Stripping us of our arms is like stripping us of our very soul, and this will prompt us to show them our might.
Sheikh Qassem: We will not abandon our arms, for they gave us dignity; we will not abandon our arms, for they protect us against our enemy.
Sheikh Qassem: The US efforts we are seeing are aimed at sabotaging Lebanon and constitute a call for sedition.
Sheikh Qassem: If you truly want to establish sovereignty and work for Lebanon’s interests, then stop the aggression.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States, which is meddling in Lebanon, is not trustworthy but rather poses a danger to it.
Sheikh Qassem: The United States is preventing the weapons that protect the homeland.

Montana may be first US state to ban TikTok

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 18 May 2023 17:08
4 Min Read

The bill, signed by the Governor, is allegedly in place to protect citizens from "intelligence gathering" from China.

  • x
  • Montana may be first US state to ban TikTok
    TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken August 22, 2022 (Reuters)

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation on Wednesday prohibiting Chinese-owned TikTok from functioning in the state under the pretext of safeguarding people from alleged Chinese intelligence collection, making Montana the first US state to do so.

In March, Forbes reported that the banning of TikTok in the US could leave a market worth around $431 billion to be tapped by three American tech giants as Washington's pressure mounts over the social media app, a Bernstein report revealed. 

Last year, the app came under severe attack from within the Democratic and Republican parties and was called a "surveillance tool" for China.

Montana will make it illegal for Google and Apple's app shops to sell TikTok in the state but will not penalize users who use the software. The prohibition is set to go into force on January 1, 2024, and it is almost guaranteed to encounter judicial challenges.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance, did not reply to a Reuters inquiry about legal action.

Read more: Kids read 25% more books in 2021-2022 thanks to TikTok

TikTok previously made a statement claiming that the new legislation "infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok" and promising to "continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana."

It has received increasing requests from politicians and state authorities in the United States to ban the app statewide due to worries about alleged Chinese government control over the network.

According to the Pew Research Center, 67% of 13- to 17-year-olds in the United States use TikTok, while 16% of all adolescents use the app fairly daily. According to TikTok, the vast majority of its users are over the age of 18.

In March, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was interrogated by a congressional committee about whether the Chinese government could access user data or affect what Americans saw on the platform. However, efforts to prohibit TikTok nationwide or to give the Biden administration greater powers to crack down on or ban TikTok have failed to gain traction in Congress.

Related News

Iran pushes diplomacy as Europe threatens sanctions snapback

Trump announces death penalty policy for all murders in Washington DC

The bill, according to Gianforte, will advance "our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance."

TikTok has constantly denied sharing data with the Chinese government and has stated that it would not do so if requested.

TikTok may face fines of $10,000 per day if it violates the restriction in Montana, which has a population of little more than 1 million people. The short video app is available in the app stores of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Google smartphones.

If Apple and Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), break the restriction, they might face fines of $10,000 per infraction, per day. Apple and Google did not react quickly to calls for comment.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called the measure "unconstitutional", noting that it will take effect on January 1 if the courts do not intervene.

Keegan Medrano, policy director at the ACLU of Montana, stated that the ban tramples on free speech in the "name of anti-Chinese sentiment."

Former President Donald Trump's effort to restrict new TikTok and WeChat downloads through a Commerce Department directive in 2020 was stopped by numerous courts and never went into force.

Several Democratic members of Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and First Amendment organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union are among TikTok's free speech supporters.

Carl Szabo, general counsel for the industry association NetChoice, also attacked the new regulation. "The government may not block our ability to access constitutionally protected speech - whether it is in a newspaper, on a website or via an app." he said in a statement, adding that Montana "ignores the United States Constitution, due process, and free speech."

Gianforte, who had attempted to persuade the state legislature to broaden the ban to include other social media apps that provide specific data to foreign adversaries, also prohibited the use of all social media apps that collect and provide personal information or data to foreign adversaries on state government-issued devices.

TikTok is working on Project Texas, which would form a separate corporation to keep American user data in the United States on servers run by the American tech firm Oracle (ORCL.N).

  • TikTok
  • Donald Trump
  • Montana
  • United States

Most Read

Almost instantly after the Helsinki Accords were signed, organisations sprouted to document purported violations, whose findings were fed to overseas embassies for international amplification. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

How ‘Human Rights’ became a Western weapon

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025
Israeli soldiers stand on the top of armoured vehicles parked on an area near the Israeli-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025 (AP)

Palestinian fighters target Israeli soldiers, vehicles in Gaza

  • Politics
  • 21 Aug 2025
Launch of a ballistic missile from Yemen toward the occupied Palestinian territories. (YAF military media)

Yemeni Forces announce firing hypersonic missile at Al-Lydd Airport

  • Politics
  • 22 Aug 2025
The ‘Arab Façade’ for Israeli occupation in Gaza

The ‘Arab Façade’ for Israeli occupation in Gaza

  • Opinion
  • 23 Aug 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime minister's office in al-Quds, Occupied Palestine, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Netanyahu deliberately derailing truce with Gaza occupation: Hamas

Irish President Michael Higgins arrives to deliver his speech during a 42nd World Food Day celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, on Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Politics

Irish president renews call for UN military intervention in Gaza

US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the US Embassy in Aukar, northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 21, 2025 (AP)
Politics

US envoy, Netanyahu discuss restraining attacks on Lebanon, withdrawal

Smoke billows following Israeli airstrikes in multiple areas in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Ansar Allah vow sustained Gaza support despite Israeli strikes

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS