The question of banning the Chinese-owned and operated social media platform, TikTok, rages on. While the US Congress mulls over whether or not an app should access the home wi-fi, states are apparently taking matters into their own hands, with Montana leading the charge.
The Treasure State has put forward a bill that would “effectively outlaw TikTok completely in the state”. This is no government devices plan, but a bill indicating that every Montana citizen would have to delete the app from their devices.
As Social Media Today points out: “[It’s] also worth noting that China-based groups are constantly seeking to use social media platforms as a means to push pro-China propaganda in the US. Google, for example, removed more than 50,000 accounts in 2022 alone, including thousands of YouTube channels, that had been created by Chinese influence operations.”
“Those concerns have been ramping up again in recent weeks, amid China’s continued aggression towards neighbouring nations, including Taiwan, which recently met with US officials to discuss the future of their regional partnership. That’s further strained relations between the US and China, which has also, in the past, seen the US publicly support autonomy for Hong Kong, and oppose China’s expanding military presence in the South China Sea.”
The bill has yet to be approved, but it does make for the first solid move towards banning the app entirely and does beg the question of whether other states will follow suit.
