Montana lawmakers released their final word on Friday on a bill banning social media app TikTok from the state, a move that will definitely face legal challenges but in addition function a testing ground for a TikTok-free America that many national lawmakers have envisioned.
The measure now goes to Republican governor Greg Gianforte for consideration.
The state house voted 54-43 to pass the bill, which works beyond the bans in nearly half of the states and the US federal government that ban TikTok on government devices. Montana already bans the app on state devices.
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a statement that “We are going to proceed to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government.”
Supporters of the bill “admitted that they’d no viable plan to operationalize this attempt to censor American votes, and that the constitutionality of the bill could be decided by the courts,” Oberwetter said.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over concerns it could be handing over user data to the Chinese government or spreading pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform.
Leaders of the FBI, CIA, and diverse lawmakers of each parties have voiced these concerns, but have offered no evidence that this has happened.
Proponents of the ban point to two Chinese laws that oblige firms in the country to cooperate with the government in the work of state intelligence.
TikTok said its servers containing details about US users are positioned in Texas.