Lori Falce: The ironic Venn diagram of Montana and China
May 19—I love a Venn diagram. You know, those charts made of overlapping circles that show what different spheres have in common?
Take Democrats and Republicans, for example. The two parties have tons of differences that could make them seem miles apart on everything from taxation to regulation to immigration. But right there in the middle they overlap with their commonalities: both have broad power in all levels of government — and they aren't mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution.
This week, Montana became the first state to ban the social media platform TikTok, a controversial platform that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese company ByteDance.
Let's be clear. Montana is not the only state with concerns about TikTok. There have been hearings in Washington. There have been questions in statehouses across the country. There are legitimate questions about security and public and private agencies that choose to forbid the app on their devices and hardware are within their rights.
But are they within their rights to ban it from your devices?
Government bans things all the time, so the easy answer seems to be yes. If they can ban you from building a nuclear reactor in your backyard, why not ban you from using an app on your phone? If you can be restricted from smoking, why not restrict you from watching short videos of people dancing while dressed like comic book characters?
The difference is most laws aren't bans. They are parameters that don't say "you can't do this," but put up rails that tell you how and when and for what purpose. Even one of our oldest bans — on killing another person — acknowledges there are exceptions, such as self-defense and war.
But Montana's law says the app can't be downloaded, which also would suggest it can't be updated, restricting its use for people who already have it. It would fine "entities" $10,000 per day for every time someone is just offered the option. So no advertising the app, either.
There are problems here. Personal freedom is definitely one, but so is money. Millions of people use TikTok for business purposes.
Some use it as an outreach tool for their organization. My favorite example is Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where Tim Pearce has "a snail joke for you!" on his Mollusk Mondays. But there also are small businesses that use it as a vehicle to reach broader markets, like Josué "The Cake Guy" Luciano, whose vivid icing artistry deserves more appreciation.
Then there are the influencers, people who have grown their audiences into such high numbers with regular content that businesses pay them for partnership and promotion. For some, it's a full-time income. For others, it's a supplement to make ends meet. Montana's law doesn't just hit a $75 billion company. It hits plenty of mom-and-pop pocketbooks.
There has to be a middle ground between the circles of free-for-all access and a total ban. There should be discussion about what devices, what ages, what content and what consequences for TikTok and ByteDance if security issues are not addressed.
And that shouldn't just be about TikTok. It should be a broader conversation about all social media forums rather than singling out just one.
When it is targeted, it makes Montana look reactionary, political and authoritarian. Ironically, that creates a Venn diagram with another government: China.
Lori Falce is a Tribune-Review community engagement editor. You can contact Lori at lfalce@triblive.com.
