Montana’s AG Backing Ban on Communist Chinese TikTok App

Montana's Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R-MT) made some national headlines earlier this week as he joined Newsmax to talk about Montana being on the "cutting edge" of cracking down on the Communist Chinese and their social media app TikTok.

We caught up with AG Knudsen on our statewide radio show to talk about that and more earlier this week as well.

AG Knudsen: We were looking at all the big social media companies and had a couple of investigations going. But the deeper we dug into TikTok, the more concerning it became. We just started learning a lot of things and started looking at a lot of things in their code. A lot of things in their privacy statements that were very concerning. And then, obviously we had that Chinese spy balloon fly over our state- go right over Malmstrom Air Force Base. We know now that that balloon was collecting signal intelligence, electronic intelligence. That's very concerning

State Senator Shelly Vance (R-Belgrade) carried the legislation in the senate. The bill has now cleared both chambers and awaits a decision from Montana's governor.

AG Knudsen: This is a great example of the state of Montana stepping up where the federal Congress won't. The federal Congress and the federal Senate should be acting on this clear national security threat that is TikTok. They haven't done it. They've held hearings. There's lots of saber rattling. But once again, the states have to step up and do things ourselves. And this is a great example where Montana has done that and we're leading the way.

Full audio of our chat with AG Knudsen:

By the way- here is video of AG Knudsen from back in January when he made an appearance on SHOT Show TV during the big SHOT Show in Las Vegas. Last weekend, Knudsen also attended the NRA Convention in Indiana.