15.04.2023
The United States has taken another step towards a total ban on TikTok. Montana’s House of Representatives has passed a bill banning TikTok, the first federal state in the United States to pass such a broad bill. Once the bill is approved by the governor of the state, it may determine the ultimate fate of TikTok in the United States.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The U.S. Montana House of Representatives has passed a bill banning TikTok, a social media application developed by Chinese companies. If Montana’s governor signs the bill, the ban would go into effect in January 2024. The new rules would prohibit app stores from offering the app, and TikTok would not be able to operate in the northwestern U.S. state. Users who already have the app installed on their devices are not affected. Montana is the first state to pass such a broad bill. The Deutsche Presse Agency pointed out in the report that there is a high possibility that the governor will sign the bill.
The Wall Street Journal, an American financial media, reported on this: Montana lawmakers approved a first-of-its-kind bill banning TikTok statewide on Friday, setting the stage for future court battles that could determine the outcome. oneThe fate of the popular Chinese-owned social media app in the US.
The Montana House of Representatives voted 54-43 to send the bill to Gov. Greg Gianforte for his signature. The ban will take effect on January 1, 2024, and will impose a fine of $10,000 for each violation on any entity. It’s unclear how some elements of the bill will be enforced. But a spokesman for the state’s governor has pointed out that Gianfort has previously banned the use of TikTok on government-issued devices and urged the state university system to do the same.
In the U.S,TikTok, owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, is under increasing political pressure。The Biden administration has banned government employees from using the app on their phones.The concern behind it is that Chinese authorities and intelligence agencies may use TikTok to gather information about Americans and possibly exert political influence on them. At the end of March, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi attended a hearing in the US Congress. Encountered mistrust and rejection from Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
At the end of March, TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi attended a hearing in the US Congress
critical voice
With more than 1 billion users, TikTok, the overseas version of Douyin, a subsidiary of the Chinese Internet company ByteDance, is one of the most successful social media video platforms in Western countries, and it is not from the United States. The company has denied all allegations and stressed that it does not consider itself a subsidiary of the Chinese company. ByteDance is 60 percent owned by Western investors and is headquartered in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. Critics have countered that although the Chinese founders own 20 percent of the shares, they still have de facto control over ByteDance due to their greater voting rights. And the company has a large headquarters in Beijing.
After the Montana House vote, CNN quoted a TikTok spokesperson as saying their company would continue to provideUsers and creatives in the stateFight for rights. Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the bill amounts to censorship and violates American citizens’ First Amendment-protected right to free speech.
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