18 US States Support Montana’s TikTok Ban

Montana's TikTok Ban is not without its supporters in the US.

A group of state attorneys general recently showed their support for Montana's statewide TikTok ban, which prohibits the use and installation of the app by anyone within the state's borders.

Montana's TikTok ban became law in mid-May, much to TikTok's dismay, along with the content creators on the platform, who had filed a lawsuit against it.

Support For Montana

Montana's statewide TikTok ban is getting applause from other US states. According to an article from Reuters, a group of 18 state attorneys general stated that they support Montana's effort to ban the installation and use of TikTok within its state.

These attorneys general also urged the US judge handling the lawsuits from TikTok and the content creators on the platform to reject them as the company "intentionally engages in deceptive business practices." According to these attorneys general, TikTok's business practices involve inducing individuals into unwittingly sharing sensitive personal information with the Chinese Communist Party, and TikTok's platform harms children in Montana.

For those unaware, TikTok and the content creators' lawsuit argues that the ban infringes on people's freedom of speech and expression. Although the ban seems to single out the social media platform, the State of Montana also banned other apps, such as Telegram, WeChat, and Temu, from being used and installed within it.

While there is no evidence that TikTok is directly harming children, the content it hosts on its platform does, according to Bloomberg Law. You may recall that TikTok is the origin point of many social media challenges that resulted in the injury (severe or otherwise) or even death of their participants, which are normally children or adolescents.

Nevertheless, this show of support for Montana's statewide TikTok ban proves that the calls from US lawmakers for a nationwide ban on the app are growing over concerns about possible Chinese government influence. The legislation that gives the Biden administration more power to ban or crack down on TikTok has seemingly stalled.

The ByteDance-owned company has yet to respond to Reuters' request for a comment addressing the state attorneys general's show of support for Montana's statewide ban.

Montana's TikTok Ban

Montana is the first and only US state to have banned TikTok statewide as of press time. The ban, which will take effect on Jan. 2024, will fine digital companies $10,000 per day for making TikTok available for download in their online stores (e.g. Google Play Store/ Apple App Store).

While people living within the state couldn't get the app from the usual channels (Google Play Store/Apple App Store), they could still use a VPN to use or download the app - something that won't be consequential for them. To clarify - the law doesn't impose penalties on individual TikTok users.

Should the ban take effect as planned, would lose the approximately 380,000 users it has in Montana - a third of the state's 1.1 million people.