Montana becomes first US state to ban TikTok. Will others follow?

TikTok has been under scrutiny from authorities around the world over concerns that data could be passed to the Chinese government.

The Biden administration had already threatened to ban TikTok from the US unless the app’s Chinese owners agree to sell their share of the social media platform, the company told The Washington Post.

However, not many companies, in the tech industry or elsewhere, would be willing or able to buy it, analysts have said.

At a price of $50 to $100 billion,   the value some analysts said TikTok could command, the social media platform would be too expensive for many companies.

Moreover, the tech giants that could afford it, such as Facebook owner Meta, Google and Microsoft, are likely to shy away for fear of getting caught in years of antitrust scrutiny in the United States, experts told The New York Times.

Furthermore, China could block the path to any sale of TikTok's US assets before bidding even starts, and ByteDance (who owns TikTok) has not yet indicated if it'd be willing to sell, experts told Insider.

This is the latest move in a years long battle between the US an TikTok. In fact, more than a dozen states in the US have implemented their prohibitions against TikTok on government devices.

Separately, the US government banned TikTok from all federal devices as part of legislation included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill.

Maureen Shanahan, a spokeswoman for TikTok, said in a statement: “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: A change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access.”

Caitlin Chin, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the BBC, that from a privacy standpoint, “simply preventing a company like TikTok from operating doesn't close the gaps", noting that many other websites collect similar information.

Photo: Claudio Schwarz/Unsplash

The company said they offered a security proposal to the US in which they would spend more than $1.5 billion to cordon off access to sensitive US user data and offer oversight and transparency around its content recommendations.

Since 2020, TikTok has been negotiating with the US government on a potential deal to resolve the national security concerns and allow the app to remain available to US users.

Calls to ban TikTok have also surfaced in countries such as Australia, while Taiwan recently moved to ban it from public devices. India blocked it in 2020 amid a military dispute.