Montana, United States: Montana lawmakers have passed a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating in the state, a move that is bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America many national lawmakers have envisioned. The bill will go to the Republican Governor Mr. Greg Gianforte for his consideration.

The state house voted 54–43 to pass the bill. Montana already bans the app on state-owned devices. The bill, known as SB 419, would prohibit mobile app stores from offering TikTok for download to users in Montana.

A TikTok spokesperson Mr. Brooke Oberwetter commented on the bill that “we will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and first amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”

“The bill’s supporters have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices, and the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts,” Mr. Oberwetter added.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over concerns it could hand over user data to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI and CIA and numerous lawmakers of both parties have raised those concerns but have not presented any evidence that it has happened.

Supporters of a ban point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. TikTok has stated that its servers containing information on US users are in Texas.

WORLD ROUNDUP: Chilean legislators pass bill to reduce working hours