Montana’s TikTok ban ‘simply unconstitutional,’ CEO says – National | 24CA News
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew mentioned on Tuesday the U.S. state of Montana’s ban of the app was unconstitutional and that he was assured his firm will prevail in a lawsuit difficult the choice.
The Chinese-owned firm filed a lawsuit on Monday in opposition to Montana’s determination to ban TikTok from working within the state to guard residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China.
“We believe that the Montana bill that was recently passed is simply unconstitutional,” Chew informed the Qatar Economic Forum organized by Bloomberg.
U.S. lawmakers and state authorities officers have referred to as for a nationwide ban on the video-sharing app, which is utilized by greater than 150 million Americans, over considerations about potential Chinese authorities affect over the platform.
“The Chinese government never asked us for U.S. users’ data and we will not provide even if asked,” Chew mentioned.
Chew mentioned his firm has labored with Oracle to maintain U.S. customers information saved within the United States.
“Today by default, all U.S. data is stored in the Oracle cloud service already,” he mentioned.
“We have built over the last two years something we call internally ‘Project Texas’, which ensures that American data is stored on American soil by an American company and overseen by American personnel,” Chew added.
In March, a congressional committee grilled Chew about whether or not the Chinese authorities may entry consumer information or affect what Americans see on the app.
But calls to ban TikTok nationwide or give the Biden administration new powers to crack down or ban TikTok haven’t superior in Congress.
Montana may impose fines of $10,000 for every violation by TikTok and extra fines of $10,000 per day if it violates the ban. The legislation doesn’t impose penalties on particular person TikTok customers. It isn’t clear how Montana would implement a TikTok ban.
