Starting In Montana
Let me start with this: the NRSC is talking with Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a former state House Speaker from Culbertson in tiny, swingy Roosevelt County, about running against Jon Tester for Senate. Outside of Montana no one knew much about him— other than that he’s a flaming racist, xenophobe, homophobe and Islamophobe— until this past week when a bill he co-wrote passed to ban TikTok in Montana passed the state legislature. He’s very excited that Montana is the first in the nation to pass a ban, his ban… a ban that could have some real salience— at least with younger people— if he runs for the Senate seat next year.
Rolling Stone reported that the ban includes a $10,000/day fine every time a user downloads the app. It passed the Senate last month and on Friday, the state House voted 54-43 in favor of the measure. Next stop: the desk of the far right psycho-governor, Greg Gianforte.
The bill would fine any “entity,” such as an app store or TikTok, $10,000 per day every time a user “is offered the ability” to access or download the app; users themselves would not be penalized. How a statewide TikTok ban would be enforced is currently unclear.
Brooke Oberwetter, a spokesperson for TikTok told NBC in a statement: “The bill’s champions have admitted that they have no feasible plan for operationalizing this attempt to censor American voices and that the bill’s constitutionality will be decided by the courts.” Oberwetter vowed to “fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”
In February, the Biden administration gave government agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from all federal devices and systems. Last December, Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” amid growing national security concerns over the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Montana’s proposed bill would not go into effect until January 2024 and would be voided if Congress passes a national TikTok ban.
There are between 100 million and 150 million TikTok users in the U.S. and around a billion worldwide. Montana has a population of around a million people and probably not a very large TikTok user base. But Chloe Appleby wrote that students are pretty passionate about the app. Passionate enough to mobilize and defeat Knudsen? 60% of TikTok users are between the ages of 16 and 24.
In a new BestColleges survey of 1,000 current undergraduate and graduate students, 82% of respondents report using TikTok and 67% say they use the app frequently or somewhat frequently. One-fifth of college students (20%) say they want to be a TikTok influencer.
We asked current college students about their TikTok habits, their mental health as a result of the app, and the ban threat. Here's what we found.
6 in 10 students who use TikTok would feel angry about a nationwide ban
On March 15, the Biden administration threatened a nationwide ban on TikTok unless its Chinese owners sold their stake in the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
About 8 in 10 college students (82%) said that they were aware of government proposals to ban TikTok prior to taking our survey.
Out of the students who report using TikTok, 59% of respondents— two-thirds of women (66%) and about half of men (48%)— say that they would be angry if the U.S. government went through with a nationwide ban.
LGBTQIA+ students (67%) are significantly more likely than straight students (56%) to say they'd be angry if TikTok gets banned.
Fifty-eight percent of college students who use TikTok say they are worried about their personal data being collected on the app. Thirty-eight percent report they aren't worried at all, and 4% are unsure.
The prospect of a nationwide ban isn't the only source of student TikTok woes. Since Dec. 8, universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, and Texas have blocked TikTok from internet access to abide by state governors' orders.
Seven in ten college students (71%) say they are still permitted to use TikTok on their college's Wi-Fi network or internet. About 1 in 10 students (13%) are not allowed to use the app on their school's network, and 15% of respondents are not sure if they could or not.
Half of students who use TikTok (50%) report that they would feel angry if their schools banned the app. About a quarter (27%) say that they would not feel angry.
Many of the students we surveyed find a sense of community on TikTok— particularly students that belong to historically excluded groups.
Overall, just over one-third (34%) of college TikTok users say the app helped them find their community.
A significantly larger percentage (42%) of BIPOC students say TikTok has helped them find their community compared to white students (28%).
And a full half of LGBTQIA+ students (50%) who use TikTok shared that it helped them find their community compared to about a quarter of straight students (28%). This may help explain why more LGBTQIA+ students would be angry if TikTok were banned.
Out of the students who reported using the app, 38% of women and 25% of men use TikTok to find their community.
Forty percent of first-generation students who use TikTok believe that the app has helped them find their community compared to 30% of non-first-gen students.
Not all TikTokers are on the app for fame or influence. In addition to finding community on the app, well over half (56%) of students say that TikTok has given them valuable knowledge or skills.
Four in ten students (40%) who use TikTok— 36% of men and 44% of women— report using it more than Google, and about one-third (34%) of college TikTok users get most of their news and information from the app.
However, only 29% of college TikTok users trust the accounts that they follow on the app to deliver news and information accurately.
Millennial and Gen Z students were split on TikTok being the new Google. Only one-fifth of millennial students (20%) say they use TikTok more than Google, while 42% of Gen Z students say the same.
Millennial and Gen Z students were similarly split on using TikTok as their main source for news and information, with 23% of millennials and 36% of Gen Z students turning to the app.
Now, if Democrats are just smart enough to get out of the way and let Republicans kill themselves with this issue— instead of agreeing with them liken a pack of self-righteous prigs… After all, as a party they're not stupid enough to rush in and save the Republicans from their blunders and self-inflicted wounds regarding abortion, homophobia, cutting popular social programs, etc.
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