FILE - This file photo, shows the icon for TikTok in New York on Feb. 25, 2020. (AP Photo/File)

Republican lawmakers in nearly every Midwestern state are working on legislation to outlaw TikTok, following Montana’s lead after the state became the first in the U.S. to ban the Chinese-owned app.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 into law on May 17, prohibiting the app’s parent company, ByteDance, from allowing TikTok’s operation within state borders. The law also prevents app store operators like Apple and Google from allowing Montana users to download TikTok, threatening a $10,000 fine for each violation beginning in January 2024. 

Montana Rep. Shelley Vance (R-Belgrade) first introduced SB 419 in February, calling the app “a surveillance arm of the Chinese Communist Party” due to allegations that TikTok accesses users’ data against their will to share with the Chinese government. There is no evidence this has actually happened outside of speculation, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified at a congressional hearing in March that the Chinese government does not control ByteDance.

The Montana bill passed 54-43 with only one Democratic supporter, Sen. Mary Caferro (D-Helena), who did not respond to a request for comment. The bill states that the ban would be reversed if TikTok was sold off to a company “not incorporated in any other country designated as a foreign adversary.”

President Joe Biden already banned the app on all government-issued devices as part of his spending bill in late December, citing issues of national security. Since then, 37 U.S. states have done the same for state-owned devices.

Former President Donald Trump previously tried to ban the app through an executive order in 2020, but failed after a judge declared that doing so would violate American users’ right to free speech. TikTok also cited First Amendment violations in the federal lawsuit the company filed against Montana’s ban this week. 

TikTok spokesperson Jamal Brown expressed concern for Montana’s approximate 200,000 TikTok users and 6,000 businesses operating on the platform, some of whom are pursuing similar free speech lawsuits against the new legislation. “We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts,” TikTok’s communications department posted on Twitter last month.

TikTok was the most popular website in the entire world in 2021, according to web security company Cloudfare, with over 86.9 million U.S. users. In 2022, a Pew Research Center study found that 67% of American teenagers say they have used the app.

But if Montana’s TikTok ban remains in place, Republican lawmakers across the U.S. will use it as inspiration for getting similar bills passed in their states, and there’s much momentum for this in the Midwest. Here’s what’s happening right now with TikTok bans in every Midwestern state.

Illinois

 

There are currently no TikTok bans in Illinois, as a Republican-led measure to ban the app on state devices has yet to make it to the House floor. House Bill 3626, filed by Rep. Chris Miller (R-Charleston) last February, is currently being reviewed by the House Rules Committee with no scheduled hearings yet. Miller did not respond to a request for comment.

On a federal level, Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to ban the app nationwide last December. But House Resolution 1081 (the “Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act,” or “ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act”) has yet to make progress, and is currently under review by the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Around the same time Krishnamoorthi introduced that bill, dozens of American universities announced TikTok bans on their campus networks. But the University of Illinois stated they would not do the same, though they are “monitoring the situation” and say the school “reserves the right to act” if TikTok threatens campus cybersecurity.

Iowa

 

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a directive to Iowa’s Department of Management’s Office of the Chief Information Officer last December to ban TikTok from all state-owned devices and prohibit state agencies from subscribing to or owning an account.

“It is clear that TikTok represents a national security risk to our country and I refuse to subject the citizens of Iowa to that risk,” Reynolds said in a statement. “They trust us with their personal and confidential information and we will take every step possible to protect it, including from the Chinese government.”

This ban affects Iowa’s three public universities, including the University of Iowa, which had to stop posting on their TikTok account with over 54K followers. An Iowa State University  statement clarified that students can still access the app on their personal devices, even if connected through their schools’ Wi-Fi networks. Student organizations such as those in Greek life can also still run accounts, but school departments (such as athletics) cannot.

Another institution with a previously active TikTok account was the Iowa state Health Department, which used it to promote campaigns focused on suicide prevention among children and teenagers. They had to stop posting in December, when Reynolds’ ban took effect.

While there are no plans to ban TikTok from the state completely, Iowa Republican lawmakers are in the early stages of reviewing a bill that would ban anyone under 18 from having a social media account and issue a $1,000 penalty to social media companies for each violation.

“I think that’s part of this overall conversation when it comes to children’s mental health,” Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley (R-New Hartford) told reporters in March.

Kansas

 

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order in December banning TikTok from all state-owned devices and requiring state agencies to delete their existing accounts. 

The Republican-controlled Kansas House voted 109-12 in February to prohibit any electronic device owned or issued to a state employee from accessing TikTok, and to ban the app from any state Wi-Fi network. The ban also applies to any app or website owned by ByteDance.

HB 2314 expands Kelly’s ban to cover agencies and institutions not under her direct control, such as state universities or the Insurance Department. The University of Kansas and Kansas State University both used to run popular TikTok accounts, using them as recruitment tools and to promote their athletics departments.

“K-State is assessing the impact that banning TikTok would have on all aspects of the university, including student engagement and recruitment,” Kansas State University spokesperson Michelle Geering told The Tokepa Capital-Journal in February. “We will monitor the progression of this bill.”

Michigan

 

Michigan Acting Chief Security Officer Jayson Cavendish told MLive in March that the state quietly banned TikTok from all state-owned devices, joining Wisconsin as one of the only four Democrat-led states to do so. 

The app can still be downloaded but is blocked on all browsers, with exceptions for cybersecurity and promotional purposes. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s popular TikTok account with over 200,000 followers is also an exception.

Cavendish told MLive that the governor’s account is accessed on a secure device that has never been on the state’s Wi-Fi network or other wireless environment, and that the device she uses to access the app follows the right guidelines to “block it from things that are connected to servers or state information.”

Whitmer’s office is the only state department to ask for an exception to the ban. “Whether we like it or not, [TikTok] is a tool for disseminating important information, and that’s how we use it,” the governor told CNN in February.

Minnesota

 

Minnesota has not imposed any state-wide TikTok bans, though Democratic Gov. Tim Walz told reporters last December that he has directed his administration to evaluate the issue of social media as a whole.

“I’ve asked our team to start thinking about that, [and] put together some recommendations,” Walz said. “I think this is an ever-evolving area.”

Missouri

 

State Republicans are currently trying to pass legislation to ban Missouri state workers from downloading and using any apps with connections to the Chinese government, including TikTok, on their state-owned devices.

Introduced by state Rep. Adam Schnelting (R-St. Charles) in February, HB 919 — or the “Anti-Surveillance and Foreign Intervention Act” — has successfully passed through the Missouri House with bipartisan support. But it has yet to be placed on the calendar for a committee hearing in the Senate.

“The Chinese Communist Party is spying on Americans and we shouldn’t put up with it,” Schnelting said in February.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley tried to force a Senate vote in March, but was blocked by fellow Republican lawmakers who argued that both chambers are trying to figure out what action, if any, is appropriate to take against the app.

Hawley did not respond to a request for comment.

Nebraska

 

Nebraska was the second state to ban TikTok from all state devices, announced in August 2020. Then-Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) called the ban an attempt to “safeguard against the intrusive cyber activities of China’s communist government.”

“As an app owned by a company based in China, TikTok is legally obligated to provide data from its users to the country’s communist regime upon request,” he stated in a press release.

North Dakota

 

Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed an executive order banning TikTok from all state-owned devices in North Dakota last December.

“TikTok raises multiple flags in terms of the amount of data it collects and how that data may be shared with and used by the Chinese government,” his press release stated.

The North Dakota University System also announced last March a TikTok ban from all NDUS devices and networks, effective July 1.

Ohio

 

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order in January barring state agencies from downloading or accessing websites for any Chinese-based social media platform, including TikTok, Weibo, Alipay, Tencent, WeChat and DingTalk.

“Social media applications and platforms operating in China engage in surreptitious data privacy and cybersecurity practices to include collecting personal information, behavioral use data, biometric data, and other data contained on the devices of its users,” the executive order states.

South Dakota

 

Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed an executive order last November to ban state officials from using TikTok on government devices, stating that “South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us.”

“The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform,” she wrote in her press release.

Wisconsin

 

Wisconsin joined Michigan as one of the only four Democrat-controlled states to ban TikTok from state devices and implement network-based restrictions. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order in January banning the app and other “foreign technologies” such as WeChat, Huawei Technologies, Alipay, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab.

The executive order states that these apps can “purportedly harvest large amounts of data from devices it is installed on, including when, where, and how the user conducts internet activity.” 

“I trust the professionals who work in this field, and it was important for me to consult with and get advice from experts in law enforcement, cybersecurity and counterintelligence … to make the best decision to protect state technologies, and ultimately, the people of Wisconsin,” Evers stated in a press release.