While reading through Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, I traveled from Washington, DC, to New York through Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Crossing all those state boundaries reminded me of Montana’s ban on ByteDance’s big social media app TikTok.
Will TikTok bans ever be enforced?
Montana’s prohibition is the most extreme response to US authorities’ fears about Chinese spying. The regulation specifically targeted Google Play and Apple’s App Store. If they provide TikTok to Montanans after January 1, 2024, they might be fined $10,000 per day.
Pundits, lawmakers, and engineers have called the restriction stupid, unconstitutional, and xenophobic. Legal battles have begun. TikTok sued Montana on Monday, alleging Constitutional reasons, after a group of users sued.
Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman told me, “It’s just propaganda, not actually an effort to keep Montanans safe.”
US lawmakers believe TikTok is giving user data to the Chinese government, although there is no proof. However, state-level TikTok bans are gaining bipartisan support, and President Biden has threatened a national ban. In 2020, the Trump administration sought to ban TikTok, but a judge found insufficient proof of Chinese eavesdropping.
What if Montana’s prohibition was enforced? Should I deactivate the app before visiting Glacier National Park? That’s unlikely, as the regulation only restricts app downloads, not existing users.
Montana TikTokers may not need to worry about losing their platforms and communities as the law doesn’t directly affect them.
TikTok would lose users if it was removed from app stores, and businesses would have to police device location. TechNet, an advocacy organization for Apple and Google, argues retailers cannot “geofence” by state, making such a ban hard to apply.