Montana lawmakers were expected to take a big step forward on a bill to ban TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that many lawmakers have envisioned.
Supporters of a ban point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also point out other troubling episodes, such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.
“I think Montana’s got an opportunity here to be a leader,” Knudsen, a Republican, told a House committee in March.“I’m not one to ban private business, but I think this is an extraordinary situation,” he said. “This is a business that is controlled by an existential threat and enemy of the United States.”
At a hearing for the bill in March, a representative from the tech trade group TechNet said app stores also “do not have the ability to geofence” apps on a state by state basis and that it would be impossible for its members, like Apple and Google, to prevent TikTok from being downloaded in Montana.
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