As expected, TikTok’s not going to Montana’s ban decision lying down. Last Wednesday, Montana Governor Greg Giaforte signed legislation to ban TikTok from operating in the state outright, to essentially protect Montanans from intelligence-gathering operations by China. At the same time, TikTok vowed to fight for its users in the region, and today, it announced the next step.

T vs M

TikTok says that Montana’s ruling violates the first amendment, and it’ll be seeking to halt the bill from becoming law before its January 2024 implementation date. It’s the first proposed full ban on the app in the US, which comes amid various security concerns raised by cyber experts, including the top espionage agencies in various regions. As China continues to escalate tensions with neighboring regions and threatens to challenge the US on various fronts. The view is that the government could indeed use TikTok as an intelligence vector – which parent company ByteDance already has in the case of at least one US journalist.

Last December, The Financial Times reported that four employees from ByteDance’s internal audit team had gained access to the IP addresses and other personal data of FT journalist Cristina Cradle to work out how she was sourcing internal information on the company. By cross-matching her location with that of ByteDance staff, the group sought to identify who might be leaking info to the press.

That’s just one example of how TikTok data could potentially be used to track and trace US citizens, which is why security experts have been ringing the alarm bells on the app for two years. As such, Montana’s new ban could end up being the first of many – which is why TikTok needs to take it on immediately and be able to challenge the legality of its approach.

Regardless of the outcome, it may still not save TikTok in the US – with reports also indicating that TikTok’s US integration and data separation plans are not as advanced as TikTok has suggested. TikTok says that it has spent billions on building new, separate data centers in the US, in partnership with Oracle. According to a new report from The Information, Oracle is not in lock-step with TikTok as to the progress of the initiative.

The Wrap

That likely won’t be viewed favorably by White House officials, who are still weighing a potential TikTok ban. As such, even if it can fend off and nullify Montana’s new ‘law’, it may not be able to remain in the US, long-term. There’s still a lot to come on this, and there are 6 months before any ban takes effect. As we’ve all waited 18 months, we’re still on the fence about the recommendations of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and how the White House views TikTok, which will then dictate the way forward for the platform.

Sources

https://bit.ly/3BSbRbW