what prompted Montana to ban TikTok

TikTok will become illegal in the US state of Montana on January 1, 2024. Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed the measure into law on May 18, after the state legislature passed a law preventing downloads of the app.

The argument is built on two premises: the first, that ByteDance (the company that maintains TikTok) collects personal data from its users and stores it in China. The second is that there is no transparency in how the authoritarian Chinese government can request this data and use it.

“The People’s Republic of China exercises control and oversight over ByteDance, like any other Chinese corporation, and may require the company to share user information, including real-time location,” reads the text of the legislative proposal that became law. .

The proposal also mentions the fact that TikTok does not remove dangerous content that could influence its users to commit acts of violence. With some frequency, TikTok gives rise to “challenges” that become popular among younger and high-risk people, such as taking medication in excessive amounts and throwing objects at moving cars.

According to the decision, TikTok and application platforms such as the Apple Store can be fined $10,000 if they violate the banning rules.

Prohibited application for civil servants

While Montana is the first state to ban the app altogether, most US states already bar government agencies or civil servants from using the app because of indications that it is used as a spying tool by China. Dozens of universities, including the University of Texas, Arizona State University and the University of Oklahoma, also banned the app from their wifi networks and computers.

The federal government itself started to prevent employees from using the application.

In August 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting ByteDance from conducting any business in the United States, but the measure was invalidated days later by the Judiciary.

At the time, the US government claimed that by capturing data such as a user’s browsing history and location, TikTok “potentially allows China to track the location of federal employees and contractors, create dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct espionage.” corporate.” The executive order also mentions that TikTok censored pro-Hong Kong publications and spread false information in order to cover up the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the current management, the CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) is trying to convince ByteDance to sell the application to a non-Chinese company. The body is the arm of the US government in charge of endorsing the performance of foreign companies in the country.

TikTok has about 150 million users in the United States and approximately 74 million in Brazil. Worldwide, there are more than 1 billion users.

Congressional pressure

The United States Congress is also investigating the use of TikTok by the communist dictatorship and even summoned TikTok CEO Shou Chew to clarify the company’s actions. He stated that the company is investing more than 1 billion dollars in a project that will allow the storage of data of American users in the United States itself, without this information being sent to China.

US deputies also approved this year a measure that makes it possible for the US government to ban apps that violate the data protection of US citizens. Joe Biden’s own management encouraged the approval of the measure, which had support from both parties.

India banned the app as early as 2020, citing the transmission of personal data of Indian citizens to China. Other governments have already banned the app from being used by their employees. This is the case of the United Kingdom, Canada and France, in addition to some bodies of the European Union.

For Stefani Juliana Vogel, Master in International High Security from Carlos III University and member of the National Data Protection Council, the concern of the American authorities is adequate. “These are legitimate concerns. It is undeniable that TikTok collects and processes a large amount of personal information, such as users’ location, individual preferences and contact lists. There is even sensitive personal data that is vulnerable to being stored without following adequate security standards”, she says. She recalls that TikTok has already been fined in Europe for the misuse of underage data.

Absent debate in Brazil

In Brazil, there are still no bills that intend to ban TikTok. Nor do federal agencies prevent public servants from using the tool. The federal government, the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the STF (Federal Supreme Court) maintain profiles on the social network. Former President Jair Bolsonaro as well.

In the opinion of Stefani Juliana Vogel, the Brazilian LGPD (General Data Protection Law) offers reasonable protection to the data of Brazilian users of applications such as TikTok. The standard, implemented in 2018, is similar to European data protection legislation and defines clear criteria for the collection and storage of personal information. Stefani adds that TikTok deserves special attention: “Given the possible irregularities practiced by the company responsible for TikTok, the response must involve not only the improvement of legislation, but also an administrative approach.” In this case, she says, it is up to the ANPD (National Data Protection Authority) to monitor compliance with the rules in force. The LGPD establishes, for example, that the transfer of data from Brazilian users to other countries can only occur if the recipient offers data protection at the same level as the Brazilian one. If US lawmakers are correct, this is not the case in China.