Montana GOP Governor Greg Gianforte discussed his decision to sign legislation banning China’s TikTok app, saying that the communist regime uses it to steal the data of American citizens and use it for “nefarious purposes.”
“I would first say the ability of the Chinese communist government to use TikTok to spy on Americans is well documented,” he told Fox News host John Roberts. “That’s why I’m pleased that we’ve banned the application here in Montana. I wish the bill actually was broader. I would have liked to have picked up other social media apps that [are] owned by foreign adversaries. But this is a good step in the right direction.”
Gianforte slammed the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for claiming that the bill was too broad and that his government could not impose a total ban.
“Well, they’re just wrong,” he responded. “The Montana Constitution has a very broad protection for individual privacy. And TikTok violates that. And this is why we’ve banned it here. I mean, spying on Americans, enough is enough. We’re not going to let foreign adversaries surveil the people of Montana.”
He said that he welcomes the ACLU’s attempts to challenge in court because his administration has already considered all the ways that this could play out and believes that they will be victorious.
“The issue with TikTok and these other applications owned by foreign adversaries is they’re able to steal data about Americans and ship it back for nefarious purposes,” he said. “It’s not what the app does. It’s where the personal data goes. This is a national security issue. It’s a violation of the Montana privacy clause in our Constitution. And we’re pleased that we’re the first state in the country to outright ban the application.”
“Again, I wish it was broader. I wish it picked up, though, the Russian apps and the other Chinese apps,” he continued. “We just ran out of time in our legislature to get that done.”
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