LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Montana has become the first U.S. state to ban the Chinese-developed social media app TikTok, as its Republican Governor, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill into law.
“To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned Tiktok in Montana,” Gianforte tweeted after signing the bill on 17 May.
The new rule prohibits app stores from offering the video-sharing app from 1 January 2024 and prevents TikTok from operating as a business in the state.
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For every day the social media platform is still available, app providers would have to pay a 10,000 dollars fine.
Users do not face a fine, and those who already have the app on their devices are unaffected.
TikTok has, however, not made any response to the legal change.
Owned by Chinese company Byte Dance, TikTok has already been banned on government-issued devices in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the U.S. amid cyber security concerns.
