Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte banned the short-form video hosting service TikTok from operating in the state May 17.
Gianforte’s signing of Senate Bill 419 made Montana the first state in U.S. to ban TikTok, according to a CNN report. The bill will take affect in January and prohibits the app from operating within state lines. The bill was approved by a 54-43 vote in the House.
"To protect Montanans' personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana," Gianforte said in a post on Twitter.
Gianforte said this ban is intended to protect the privacy of American citizens, CNN reported. Additional bans include the use of social media apps connected to "foreign adversaries" on government devices, such as CapCut and Lemon8, which are owned by TikTok owner ByteDance.
In addition to the ban, the bill includes the possibility of fines of up to $10,000 per day for violating the law, CNN reported.
A number of U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about the social media platform having ties to the CCP. According to the CNN report, the fear is that the Chinese government could use TikTok to access data from U.S. citizens for spying purposes. CNN noted there has not been any evidence of the Chinese government accessing personal data from U.S.-based Tiktok users.
Representatives from TIkTok said the law "infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana," and are expected to challenge the law, according to CNN.
“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 press release. “Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party."
