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On Wednesday, Montana governor Greg Gianforte didn\u2019t only<\/em> ban TikTok state-wide<\/a>. He also accused<\/a> Telegram, WeChat, and the shopping app Temu of being \u201ctied to foreign adversaries\u201d and directed that they and similar apps be banned from government devices and all state business. Gianforte also cited TikTok owner ByteDance\u2019s CapCut video editor and Lemon8 as examples of offending apps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n With this ban, Gianforte largely seems to be targeting apps with ties to China, given that ByteDance, Temu owner Pinduoduo, and WeChat owner Tencent are all based in the country. Telegram is the exception: it was founded in Russia but is currently headquartered in Dubai<\/a>. Gianforte\u2019s letter claims that the Russian government uses the app to \u201cmonitor users and obtain personal, sensitive, confidential information,\u201d perhaps referencing Wired\u2019s<\/em> February report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Montana\u2019s new policy will be in effect on June 1st. The list of devices that can\u2019t have the apps includes \u201call state-issued cell phones, laptops, tablets, desktop computers, and other devices which connect to the internet.\u201d And the ban won\u2019t just apply to government employees: Gianforte says that \u201cany third-party firms conducting business for or on behalf of the State of Montana shall not use these applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gianforte had already blocked TikTok on government devices or devices connected to the state network as of December<\/a>, so this expands that policy to a suite of other major apps. WeChat and Telegram Messenger are widely-used for chats, for example, and shopping app Temu is currently the most popular free app in the US in the App Store and Google Play. If the offending apps are currently downloaded on any devices, Gianforte has instructed them to be \u201cimmediately removed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite Gianforte\u2019s claims it\u2019s \u201cwell-documented\u201d that TikTok provides personal information and data to the Chinese Communist Party, it\u2019s unclear if owner ByteDance actually relays that data back to the government. But as we reported in March<\/a>, Congress doesn\u2019t seem particularly interested in the answers \u2014 many have already made up their minds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n