What Montana's TikTok Ban Means For Content material Creators And Customers

Whereas the ban was simply signed, it’s not scheduled to really go into impact till January 1, 2024, so there might be no quick impression on TikTok customers and content material creators primarily based in Montana. Moreover, there’s a excessive chance that TikTok and its allies will file a authorized problem towards the invoice, which might forestall it from going into impact in any respect.
Ought to the invoice go into impact, although, its exact language specifies that customers wouldn’t be the goal of its punishments. The invoice states that any “entity” that operates or affords downloads for TikTok inside Montana could be topic to a $10,000 advantageous. An “entity,” on this case, refers solely to both a cell app retailer or the TikTok firm; the invoice outright states that these penalties “don’t apply to customers of tiktok (sic).”
Within the easiest phrases, if you happen to had been to make use of the TikTok app in Montana, you wouldn’t be punished, however the app retailer you bought it from could be. This presumably implies that ought to you have already got TikTok in your cell machine, you can proceed to make use of the app at no hazard to your self. Within the occasion TikTok is made unavailable on app shops in Montana, it might seemingly nonetheless be put in and utilized by way of sideloading or a VPN. The invoice doesn’t specify what entity could be penalized if the app got here from a nontraditional supply.