We’ve been seeing the social media platform be scrutinized by American lawmakers for quite some time now and the app’s CEO testify before Congress too. But that appears to be not good enough for Montana which is now approving a new kind of bill that bans the leading platform across the entire state.
The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal which claims lawmakers were in the majority and voted 54 to 43 in favor of this law. But it’s not over yet as the decision is now going to be forwarded to the state’s governor Gret Gianforte. And if he does end up signing it, the ban is going to be well in place.
This bill was reportedly written out today and is said to go into practice by the start of next year. Therefore, the app who is owned by China’s ByteDance wouldn’t be allowed to operate and if anyone does choose to violate this law, the violation is huge and currently stands at $10,000.
For now, there are a lot of things in question including how the ban would be enforced and whatnot. Most importantly, it all depends on Governor Gianforte and whether he opts to sign it or not.
For those who may not be aware, the politician has really been in opposition to TikTok and has even been dubbed as one of the boldest critics of the app. As it is, the popular social media app is banned from all government-owned devices so we’re not going to be too surprised to see it come into effect, statewide.
America’s federal government has even banned the platform on government devices as in so many other nations around the globe.
We’ve seen the government similar press universities in places like Montana so they can implement these bans further, whereas states like Texas have already taken part in the initiative.
The Associated Press has revealed that such penalties wouldn’t be applied to different users but instead, would be applicable to ByteDance and the App Store from where such platforms are installed. So as you can imagine, it would really take a toll on the likes of Apple and Google.
Lawmakers in the state of Montana mentioned how they wish to lead by example so others can see the seriousness of the matter and ban the app. Meanwhile, Montana’s attorney general Austin Knudsen mentioned how an app is a huge tool that is utilized by China’s government so it could spy on state officials.
But remember, such a bill could be described as void if the US puts a federal ban on the app or if the platform opts to sever its links with China. Meanwhile, experts claim the only reason why Montana is rushing ahead with the decision is that it does not feel a federal ban is going to come into place, anytime soon.
Meanwhile, TikTok is not feeling pressured by the news. It did release a statement in regards to the matter and added how the company is going to continue with its fight for both users and creators in the state who rely on the app for a livelihood and hence are at stake of losing their privacy rights. They also feel it threatens their First Amendment rights due to such overreach by the country’s government.
Now if this bill does come forward after being signed by Montana’s government, it puts out a series of major challenges that could end its way to the country’s Supreme Court. The matter is really not that simple and straightforward.
For now, tech giants Apple and Google are reserving their comments regarding the bill and that could potentially put it on the hook regarding the mega $10,000 fine for every violation.
Hence, it’s just a wait-and-watch ordeal at this moment in time and one that many people are going to be curious about for obvious reasons.
Read next: Internet Ad Revenue Crosses $200 Billion Mark, Here’s Why That’s Not Good Enough
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
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