TikTok ban stalls as Montana governor suggests covering all foreign foes
Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg)
Earlier this month, Montana passed the first bill to ban TikTok statewide, upsetting critics who claimed the law was unenforceable, both technically and legally. Now The Wall Street Journal reports that before the controversial bill could even officially reach Governor Greg Gianforte’s desk, he was already taking a pen to the bill and crossing out every mention of TikTok. Gianforte’s press secretary, Kaitlin Price, told Ars that his intent was to amend the bill to address critics’ technical and legal concerns with the original language.
“The amendment for consideration seeks to improve the bill by broadening Montanans' privacy protections beyond just TikTok and against all foreign adversaries, while also addressing the bill's technical and legal concerns,” Price told Ars.
Ars has since reviewed a draft of the governor’s proposed amendments, confirming that—rather than target TikTok specifically—the amended bill would instead take aim at all social media apps that “provide certain data to foreign adversaries.”