No More TikTok in Montana?

When trying to think of a piece of media from this week, I was immediately drawn to an article I read about the banning of the social media platform TikTok. It was published by NPR, a news source that has left Twitter because of Elon Musk. It was just that sort of week in the media world.

Recently, Montana's House of Representatives has sent the Governor a bill to ban TikTok in the state. According to NPR's article, "Montana becomes 1st state to approve a full ban of TikTok" Many different organizations have been weighing in on the decision. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, is based out of China. This has lead so some uncomfortable sessions where US officials have worried that the Chinese government could request Americans' data from ByteDance and spy on Americans.

This is the concern that has lead Montana to attempt to ban TikTok. As ACLU and other entities have said, this is a question of free speech as well as the Montana government controlling what the people of Montana can access on the internet. Additionally, no one has come up with a plan to implement this new law once it is signed by the governor.

I don't have a TikTok account, yet this ban could have a profound impact on media history on a global scale and me. Even if I'm not a user, I'm impacted by TikTok by how it impacts society. If I were teaching a class to students, this is definitely an article I would want them to analyze and discuss. They are a large percentage of TikTok users. They are the Americans who will feel a ban on TikTok in an impactful way. And I'd use some of our "Questions of Interrogation and Analysis" to help students consider if we should ban a platform that may someday leak data to another country.

Will the governor of Montana sign the bill? Tune in next week wherever news finds you.