$10,000 a day fine: First US state bans Tiktok

Several Western countries, including the United States, have already banned their government employees from using the popular Chinese video app Tiktok. There has long been speculation about a general Tiktok ban in the USA.

At the end of March 2023, Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew was summoned before the US Congress to allay privacy concerns. Apparently he hadn’t succeeded. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives then put the chances of a Tiktok ban in the US at 90 percent.

Now Tiktok is being banned in a first US state. The governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, has signed a corresponding law that is to come into force in 2024, according to the daily mirror, among others reported.

The Montana legislature had already passed the corresponding draft law in mid-April. But Gianforte’s signature was still missing. It is possible that the new allegations against Tiktok mother Bytedance, which became known a few days ago, have strengthened the governor in his decision.

In a lawsuit, a former Bytedance employee accused the Chinese company of stealing intellectual property and using bot armies. Especially at the beginning, Tiktok is said to have tried to artificially inflate the user numbers and engagement with the app.

But far more critical for US politicians and the public: China has access to data from US users via Tiktok. In addition, the Chinese Communist Party installed employees with far-reaching competencies in the Bytedance headquarters.

No wonder Montana’s governor tweeted that the Tiktok ban was intended to “protect the personal and private information of the people of Montana from the Chinese Communist Party.” After the ban came into force, Tiktok can no longer be used in the US state.

Bytedance would have to pay a $10,000 fine for every day that Tiktok is still available. Users of the app, on the other hand, are not threatened with punishment. Anyone who has already installed the app on their smartphone is also not affected.

It is questionable whether the law will endure. Lawsuits in court, on the other hand, have not yet been specifically announced, but are very likely. The US state with a population of just over one million seems to be serving as a test run for a US-wide ban.

While a Tiktok spokeswoman spoke of an “illegal ban”, there was also criticism from the US civil rights organization ACLU. ACLU Representative Keegan Medrano said state leaders are trampling on the free speech rights of hundreds of thousands of people in Montana “in the name of anti-China sentiment.”