The US state, Montana, made waves recently as they have moved to completely ban TikTok in the state. Montana Governor, Greg Gianforte, just signed this into law and will be effective as of January 1st, 2024. This is an unprecedented move to ban just one app. Despite it being passed into law, however, it could prove very difficult to enforce.
How Did We Get To This Point?
While TikTok’s user base has reached 150 million in the US, the move by Montana comes after a very difficult few months for the social media app. Many questions have been raised about any Chinese governmental spying and involvement with ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. Fears began to grow that the increased control of the ruling Communist Party in China, could see them force ByteDance to hand over any and all user data, exposing potentially sensitive information.
This then evolved into initial bans. Despite limited evidence, the US is among a number of countries that have implemented or are in the process of implementing bans blocking TikTok on governmental devices. These bans are driven by concerns that the platform is listening to conversations or is able to access emails and documents on these devices.
In March, TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, was grilled by a bipartisan congressional panel. Attempting to answer their questions and assuring them there would be no Chinese government interference, Chew was always facing an uphill battle. Facing a barrage of questions rooted in misinformation and xenophobia, Chew did his best to dissuade Congress. But one simply needs to look at North Carolina Congressman Richard Hudson’s line of questioning to understand that no matter how eloquent or convincing Chew was, he was never going to be able to convince them of the safety of using TikTok.
Despite all of this, ByteDance has continually looked to appease lawmakers to assure them that TikTok fully complies with US laws. ByteDance has been prepared to sell TikTok to an independent or US-based company to try and address the concerns.
Why Montana’s Move Is Going To Be Interesting?
There are a number of components to this that could disrupt this. Firstly is the question surrounding any potential sale by ByteDance. If sold prior to January 1st, is that enough to placate the governor and remove the ban? Logically it should. If the reason for the removal of the app is actually in line with what has been stated for the concerns, then the removal of that threat should be enough to overturn this.
Perhaps the most curious detail yet to come is how they will enforce the ban. The ban is actually dependent on two key external parties. Both Google and Apple are required to remove the app from their app stores. How Google and Apple approach this will be interesting, as both may resist any governmental interference in the way they operate their app stores. There is already plenty of precedent for both Apple and Google fighting against anyone attempting to challenge control of how their app stores function. Not to mention the logistics of attempting to remove one app from one state, but having it available everywhere else.
Google is one of many companies that have looked to replicate the success of TikTok through its launch of YouTube Shorts. This could give Google a solid reason to remove TikTok from the app store, as it will remove a major competitor. But the reality is that some of the scrutiny that is placed on ByteDance and TikTok could then begin to shift to other platforms. Google removing TikTok from its app store could actually result in regulators starting to look at companies like Google and any information they could be sitting on.
This unprecedented move by the state of Montana highlights the political uneasiness within the US towards outside nations, particularly China. While similar apps, such as Facebook, have been accused of similar privacy concerns, none have faced sanctions like TikTok. TikTok has attempted to assure everyone that the Chinese government has no involvement in their business, and they never would. However, it is clear that this issue continues to linger. The only logical solution looks to be for ByteDance to sell, but that is an unfair outcome for a company that appears to have done nothing wrong. Other than being founded in China.