Montana becomes first state to ban TikTok after governor signs bill into law
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Montana officially became the first state to ban TikTok on Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill restricting downloads of the immensely popular social media app into law.
The legislation, which was passed last month, makes it illegal for app stores to give users the option to download TikTok and illegal for the company to operate within the state.
The law is likely to face challenges in court arguing it restricts free speech, but Gianforte praised its privacy protections.
"The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented," Gianforte said in a news release, calling the law "the most decisive action of any state."
TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter called the bill "unlawful" in a statement Wednesday, saying the app is a platform that "empowers hundreds of thousands of people across the state."
"We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana," Oberwetter said.
When the bill passed last month, Oberwetter said its "champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices."
Violations of a ban include every time a user is offered the ability to download the app. Each violation could carry a $10,000 penalty. Enforcement would be handled by the Montana Justice Department.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told Congress in March that 150 million people in the U.S. are regular users of the app, which has exploded in popularity in recent years.
Although Montana is the first state to ban downloads and usage of the app for everyone within its borders, limited bans have been issued federally and state by state for government-owned devices, as well as networks.
President Joe Biden signed a ban last year that prohibits the federal government's nearly 4 million employees to use TikTok on devices owned by its agencies.
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Such fear, such paranoia - I thought America was 'The Home of the Brave'.. The curtailing of the Second Amendment should get a TENTH of the curtailing that the First Amendment does.
Don't worry. The Biden campaign uses TikTok to speak to Generation Z. It isn't going anywhere as long as China has a bought & paid for friend in the White House.
I was going to post all the internet sites China blocks but there are too many of them to list.
Here as just few of hundreds.
I posted a comment about the article topic, and I didn't think that what China does or doesn't do was the topic. I guess we have to grow up to realize that in this world there are different strokes for different folks and believe it or not the whole world is NOT American.
"The Chinese Communist Party is also part of that topic.
I guess we have to grow up to realize that in this world there are different strokes for different folks and believe it or not the whole world is NOT American.
That is for sure. The American Century is over. Now we are entering a dark age. An age that will have the world longing for the old American benevolent leadership and western values. As a matter of fact many will settle for the old duties and responsibilities of the British Empire. Brutal coercion will be the order of the day and when nations will compete for basic resources, nations like India will be the big losers. All hail the coming dark age!
Does anyone on NT actually use TikTok?
What is it? Why would it be a useful vehicle for China?
This is a very comprehensive description of it and what it is used for. LINK ->
It is just the unfounded fear and paranoia about China that is causing governments to ban TiKToK, same as they did with Huawei. The ban is no more than a political move to contain and demonize China to prevent it from surpassing the USA. I wouldn't be surprised if the next thing they ban will be TV sets that they think transmit information to the Chinese government about people's program preferences.
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Here is a relatively balanced report:
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Last month, Biden banned TikTok for use by all federal employees, and it has also been banned for use by state employees in 34 states.
Yes... but I've yet to see a serious explanation of "why".
It's a potential security risk. Specifically TikTok is an American tech company owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. Per the user agreement anyone at TikTok or ByteDance can access user data. That said calling out TikTok by itself is political as networks with high security concerns like banks or the military (one would assume city, state and federal governments would be on that list already) don't allow personal devices to access their networks and business phones are restricted to approved apps for work management only.
It's getting to the point where even small businesses need are being subject to ransomware and the Chinese are eyeballs deep into that as are Iran, North Korea and Russia where they lock out a company from it's data and then shake them down for money. By the time they do this they know exactly what the business can pay. If the business isn't a good target they can add a program that can hitchhike on emails to every company a person talks to to be exploited later.
The company I work for is not subject to state cybersecurity reporting (outside an actual breach of customer data) but I'm working to institute a much higher standard of security including personal VPNs on all laptops when used outside the office, all passwords will be no shorter than 13 characters (a combo of upper & lower case characters and numbers), all applications will have Multi-Factor Identification and no access of any customer data from any personal device.
Funny as I was typing this up I just got this totally obvious phishing email. It's so bad I don't know how anyone can fall for it, but they must.
Maybe Biden lacks a serious reason.
... and all the while, the NSA...
My 30 yr old son keeps trying to get me to use it, but I've refused. It's bad enough I have to use snapchat to see photos and videos of my granddaughter.
A smartphone app for creating and watching short videos.
Generally tracking information can allow targeted marketing and put Chinese business ahead of US businesses costing jobs here. Much like Temu is trying to compete with Amazon right now. Temu is offering Chinese made products at a loss to shoehorn in on the online ordering market. Then there is how it choses what videos to show people. Some content will be political. I'd not want any social media app to decide to promote alt+right content over warm fuzzy puppies that's for sure.
Then their is the fear it's specifically targeting government workers to exploit them by knowing everything they do on their phones. Who they communicate with, their financial info and web information. Basically saying TikTok is spyware. We know it does track data, most apps do, but what it tracks and who's looking at it we don't know.
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Probably not.
Think of the young kids who use their cell phones for everything including a wallet.
The app should not be available in the country. It's undeniably spyware for the CCP and it makes the Russian interference in elections look like a homeless man with a sandwich board by comparison. An algo controlled by the CCP pushing political content is inherently dangerous.
Sorry but I disagree. People in this country should be free to ingest any garbage they want into their minds. As stated below, every large company does their own data mining and there are also companies out there that will data mine and provide targeted results to smaller companies for a fee. Additionally I believe this is a huge over-reach for the state government to ban civilians from using this. It's one thing for a government to state this app may not be installed on any government provided device but this goes way beyond that. This will undoubtably go to court and be overturned by the courts.
Congress could strengthen data privacy laws, but they won't since data is big business.
But spyware from a forgein government is about stealing information (which China has a long, documented histroy of doing) not really about what's on the platform. As to adults, I'm generally in agreement , but not for kids.
Tik-tok is poison for kids, which is why China has a domestic version and doesn't allow it's children access to what they pollute the world with. It's a weapon.
I'll take 'What is Pegasus' for $500 Alex.
All social media is poison for children, but most parents these days don't monitor what their kids are doing online which is an entirely different matter than this seed. But tbh I am not all that concerned with China's government being part of the company that builds and monitors TicTok. IMO we have no real idea how deeply our own government agencies are working with social media companies here in the US either. IMO there should be age restrictions for all social media, but what adults do with their private time on their own personal equipment should not be a matter for government until they break a law.
As I don't hold TicTok really any different than any other social media, if government wants to put up walls around it then they need to make those walls include all types of social media. Otherwise don't bother to waste time and money on something that is going to lose in court. I realize that's not a popular opinion for politicians as these types of acts are more about getting their face in the news again. But IMO it's a huge waste of time and money, like most government functioning.
I'm not sure how that's an argument to allow a product that's uniquely designed to addict children.
Sure. But that's our government. Not a hostile foreign government.
I don't hold TicTok really any different than any other social media,
But it is. It's the only one controlled by a hostile foreign government pushing a product it refuses to allow its own citizens to use.
So on one hand you have a hostile foreign government, and on the other you have a hostile domestic government. Pick your poison?
The only social media I use outside of this chat board (and a couple more I am involved in) I only use Facebook and that's only so I can get pictures of the grandkids/family/etc.
The data collection problem and even the addiction problems seem to me to be a ships that have long sailed. I think what you’re missing is that TikTok can place its thumb gently on the scale. It can subtlety adjust the presentation selection algorithms to slowly send entire generations down rabbtholes of its chosing. I believe it is incredibly dangerous to have such a tool controlled by our greatest adversary.
Data is being mined constantly by literally 1000s of both big and small 'aps'. "Chin-AH" and tiktok have become the easy target for all that ails. The West spies on China constantly, that they return the 'favor' and the West whines about it is a 'tad' hypocritical. The internet was always going to be modern culture's Pandora Box; we in the West invented it and opened it, the blame lies with us.
This will end the same way as when Trump tired to ban WeChat.
In the meantime, TikTok User Age, Gender, & Demographics (2023):
Interesting.
It looks like teen tribalism.
Teens have been that way since the very early 1960s.
Since the Stone Age, probably...
I only feel that old on Tuesdays ... alas every day is Tuesday.
tik tok is a cyber time bomb that can be detonated at any time and for any reason by the chinese. it's been US government policy for over a decade that any US gov't officials are strongly advised not to turn on their phones until they visit the US consulate and exchange them for a secure loaner phone to use while on chinese soil. there's a reason for that.