Gianforte urges Board of Regents to ban TikTok

Gov. Greg Gianforte urged the Board of Regents to ban the social media app TikTok within the Montana University System citing security risks in a letter on Tuesday.

This follows Gianforte’s memo to Chief Information Officer Kevin Gilbertson last month that the app would be banned from state devices, for state business, and while connected to the state network.

“The ability of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to spy on Americans using TikTok is well documented. Using or even downloading TikTok poses a massive security threat,” Gianforte wrote in the letter Tuesday. “Given the risk use of TikTok poses to our public universities and our students, I request the Board of Regents support efforts by the Commissioner of Higher Education to prevent the use of TikTok by the Montana University System (MUS) and its campuses and while connected to the MUS network.”

In the letter, the governor cited recent testimony from Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray who warned the app is controlled by “a government that doesn’t share our values, and that has a mission that’s very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States.”

A spokesperson for the Montana University System did not respond to a request for comment.