Montana governor wants to expand state TikTok ban to potentially include other social media platforms

The governor of Montana has proposed changes to the language of a bill that seeks to ban TikTok in the state, according to documents obtained by NBC News.

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed amendment, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, strikes out any mention of TikTok or TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and instead stipulates the ban would be applied to “social media applications that provide certain data to foreign adversaries.”

“A social media app may not operate within the territorial jurisdiction of Montana” if that app allows personal data or information to be collected and “provided to a foreign adversary or a person or entity located within a country designated as a foreign adversary,” the proposed amendment reads.

Some in the field of technology and free speech said they have concerns about the drafted amendment, including the lack of definitions of “data collection” and “social media application.” Two experts who spoke to NBC News said the amendment only worsens an already problematic bill.

A spokesperson for Gianforte said the changes are intended to strengthen the bill.

“The amendment for consideration seeks to improve the bill by broadening Montanans’ privacy protections beyond just TikTok and against all foreign adversaries, while also addressing the bill’s technical and legal concerns,” said Kaitlin Price, the governor’s press secretary.

The original bill, which lawmakers passed on April 14, was expected to face legal challenges.

Ari Cohn, a free speech counsel at TechFreedom, described the amendment as “deeply stupid and an exercise in completely missing the point.”

Cohn suggested the amendment could exacerbate the bill’s legal woes.

The issue wasn’t that the bill singled out TikTok, but rather that “the Montana Legislature was attempting to cut users off from an entire forum for expression, purportedly over national security concerns that were vague and generalized,” Cohn said.

TikTok has come under fire by critics who say the app is a national security threat given its ability to collect data on its users, with some noting much of the user base is teens and young adults. However, other security experts argue the app is no more a security threat than the many other apps that collect data and point to the lack of any broad U.S. data privacy regulations. 

In addition to targeting just TikTok, the initial bill also banned the Apple App Store and Google’s Google Play from providing the app for download to residents of Montana. Both TikTok and the stores that allowed users to download it would be subjected to a $10,000 fine per day.

Google and Apple did not respond to a request for comment. TikTok also did not respond to a request for comment.

In the newly drafted amendment, the language holding the stores accountable for providing TikTok for download has been removed.