#governor gianforte

[the-work-in-progress]

Please give this a read and sign. I’ve included the information from the incident below.

“In August 2019, 18-year-old Kaysera Stops Pretty Places was murdered in Big Horn County, Montana. The Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the Montana Department of Justice refused to investigate, letting her murder go unpunished and preventing Kaysera and her family from getting the justice they deserve.

Kaysera Stops Pretty Places went missing on August 24, 2019 in a suburban neighborhood of Hardin, Montana, less than a half mile from Crow Reservation boundary. On August 29, her body was found in that same neighborhood. Law enforcement knew they had found Kaysera’s body, but did not tell the family that Kaysera’s body had been found until September 11—causing the family to hopelessly search for almost two weeks.

Days before Kaysera went missing, she filmed and posted to social media the beating of her 15-year-old brother by law enforcement at Crow Fair. The officers beating the minor in a wheelchair included Big Horn County deputies. There is reason to believe that one of the Big Horn County Sheriff’s deputies under investigation for the scene filmed by Kaysera was a responding officer when her body was discovered.

Next, the Big Horn County Coroner Terry Bullis took Kaysera’s remains to his personal funeral home before she was identified by the crime lab and coerced her family into cremating her remains, going against the family’s cultural beliefs and destroying any evidence.

Despite the suspicious circumstances surrounding Kaysera’s death, the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the Montana Department of Justice have done absolutely nothing to investigate. Kaysera’s family has provided the authorities with tips and evidence to aid the investigation yet they continue to be ignored. These law enforcement agencies fail Kaysera and her family every day they are not looking for her killer. They must be held accountable. They must do their jobs and bring justice to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (“MMIW”) like Kaysera.

We demand the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, specifically Sheriff Lawrence Big Hair, actually investigate Kaysera’s murder. Today, Big Horn County has one of the highest rates of MMIW in the entire United States. Their incompetence and complete disregard for the lives of their Native women and girls demonstrates why. We demand that County Attorney Jay Harris release information requested by the family who have not received a basic police report from the county. As Sheriff Big Hair is not investigating Kaysera’s murder, we demand he cooperate with and allow other entities such as the U.S. Department of Justice Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (“MMIP”) Task Force to review Kaysera’s case and adequately investigate her murder.

We demand the FBI fulfill its responsibility to Kaysera and other Native women and girls. When a tribal citizen living on a reservation goes missing and is murdered, the FBI has a trust duty and responsibility to investigate. The FBI stated it would not investigate because her body was found half a mile off the Crow Reservation border, claiming it had “no jurisdiction.” This is despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence to prove Kaysera’s life had not been taken on the reservation—where the FBI would have undoubtedly had jurisdiction.

We demand the Montana Department of Justice investigate and prosecute the crimes committed against Kaysera. It is the duty of the Montana DOJ to ensure its citizens are safe and that crimes in Montana do not go unpunished.

We demand Governor Gianforte put an end to the rampant murder and corruption in his state and protect MMIW in the State of Montana.

Shame on law enforcement for forcing our families to investigate these horrendous crimes themselves. Shame on them for letting heinous murders of Indigenous women like Kaysera go unpunished. Shame on them for not valuing the lives of our Native women and girls.

Please sign and share this position as we fight for #JusticeForKaysera and all Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women who have been abandoned by the authorities sworn to protect them.”

[coochiequeens]

Update on a story I already posted about

By Anna Slatz February 5, 2024

The family at the center of a custody battle with Montana Child and Family Services over their 14-year-old “transgender” daughter is reportedly facing imminent arrest after speaking to media about their ordeal. Krista and Todd Kolstad had previously been ordered by a judge to remain silent on the case, but chose to speak out about their situation last week.

Reduxx was first to break the story after speaking to the Kolstads about their tragic situation on January 29. In the interview, the Kolstads revealed that their 14-year-old daughter, Jennifer*, had been removed from their custody after they declined to actively “affirm” her newfound gender identity. Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) argued to a court that it was in the child’s “therapeutic best interest” to have her gender identity “respected,” and a petition was presented for the child to be sent to a family member in Canada.

Stepmom Krista and “Jennifer” Kolstad. Photo Source: Provided.

The removal was the culmination of a months-long battle between the Kolstads and CFS which started on August 18, 2023, after Jennifer claimed to a friend that she was suicidal and suffering from terminal cancer. The friend reported the claims to police, who reached out to the Kolstads to confirm that Jennifer was alright.

Later on that evening, a CFS case worker arrived at the Kolstad home for an inspection and private interview with Jennifer, at which point the child declared she had drank toilet bowl cleaner and overdosed on pain medication.

Though she showed no symptoms of illness and had no access to either substances, Jennifer was taken to the hospital on an emergency basis for bloodwork, which conclusively determined she had fabricated her claim of overdosing. She also does not have a medical history of cancer despite having claimed to her friend that she was terminal.

The Kolstads attempted to inform CFS that Jennifer had a tendency of attention-seeking behavior and fabricating wild claims, but throughout the incident, Jennifer’s “gender identity” was the main point of contention. The child told CFS she identified as a “boy” named Leo, and that her parents were abusive and not willing to facilitate her gender transition.

Jennifer spent two days in the hospital for suicide monitoring, at which point the Kolstads agreed with CFS that she would benefit from being sent to a residential treatment facility for counseling. While there were a number of Montana-based facilities floated as options, the possibility of Jennifer being sent to Wyoming was also mentioned as an unlikely alternative.

The Kolstad family. Photo Source: Provided.

On August 22, the Kolstads were told that Jennifer was next in line for a bed in Billings. But, later on that same day, they received a call from the hospital informing them that she was instead being sent to an unnamed facility in Wyoming. Faced with a number of unanswered questions and a concern about Wyoming’s laws allowing children to transition, the Kolstads expressed a hesitancy to allow Jennifer to be sent across state lines.

Within 10 minutes of refusing to immediately sign paperwork releasing Jennifer to the facility, Montana Child and Family Services arrived at the Kolstad residence with police and served them with paperwork temporarily removing Jennifer from their custody.

Jennifer was eventually returned to Montana to enter a youth group home for additional counseling, but the Kolstad’s fight with CFS had only just begun.

Though initially told that Jennifer would be returned to their care after her time at the group home was finished, CFS petitioned the court to remove Jennifer from their custody completely and have her sent to her long-estranged biological mother in Canada.

“We were told that letting Jennifer transition and live as a boy was in her ‘therapeutic best interest’ and because we aren’t willing to follow that recommendation, the court gave CFS custody of Jennifer for six months,” Krista told Reduxx. “CFS is now going to place Jennifer in the care of her birth mother in Canada, who has never really been a part of her life. The judge said to us ‘you need to expect that reunification with your family may not be what you are expecting.’”

In response to the decision, the Kolstads released a video on social media pleading for help. The court demanded they remove it and issued a gag order restricting the Kolstads from speaking further on the case.

They voluntarily defied the order, re-uploaded the video, and spoke to press regardless out of concern over what was happening to their family. While a contempt of court hearing was set for January 29, the Kolstads had to file for a continuance in order to leave the state and attend to a severely ill family member in Ohio.

But the already-mind boggling story has only continued to grow in complexity after the Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) siding with the decision of the state’s Child and Family Services.

While not directly accusing the Kolstads of abuse, Gianforte suggested that Jennifer was removed from the household for legitimate reasons.

While the CFS affidavit does extensively detail the child’s complaints of abuse for not being “affirmed” in her desire to live as a “boy,” the argument made by CFS that resulted in her being removed from her parent’s care was their hesitancy to immediately sign paperwork sending her to Wyoming.

Both the CFS affidavit and the accompanying report neglect to acknowledge that Jennifer had lied about having terminal cancer, drinking Clorox toilet cleaner, or overdosing on prescription medication — all statements that would lend weight to the parent’s initial warnings that Jennifer had a history of attention-seeking behavior.

The Montana Safety Assessment completed by CFS.

Previous accusations of household instability detailed in the CFS report from 2016 and 2017, both of which involved Todd’s ex-wife, were noted “unsubstantiated,” and there has never been any history of Todd nor Krista physically harming or otherwise neglecting any of their children’s care.

But despite the clear indications that the “abuse” in the Kolstad residence was limited to not affirming Jennifer’s “gender identity” and expressing a hesitancy to sign paperwork allowing Jennifer to go to Wyoming, a push to paint the Kolstad’s as legitimately abusive has begun in an apparent effort to justify CFS’s actions. Disturbingly, many of those pushes appear to originate directly from the Governor’s office.

Travis Hall, Governor Gianforte’s senior advisor, has shared two posts to his social media account in which it is implied that the Kolstads were severely abusing Jennifer.

In one post shared by Hall, a user claims that even children living in “absolute filth, meth labs, with both parents being dealers and addicts” were not taken away from their parents in the way Jennifer was, implying what was happening in the household was far worse.

Another post shared by Hall features a link to an article from TownHall reporter Stephen Brown which appears to have been created with the input of the Governor’s office. In the article, Brown refers to Jennifer with “they/them” pronouns, and runs defense for Gianforte’s suggestion that the Kolstads were abusing Jennifer and that CFS acted appropriately.

On X, an individual claiming to be a lawyer who works to “protect trans kids” in Montana has been spreading the false accusation that Todd Kolstad, Jennifer’s father, was “convicted” of domestic abuse. In actuality, documents reviewed by Reduxx demonstrate the charges, which were unrelated to Jennifer, were dropped in 2021. The Kolstads are currently engaged in a lawsuit against the Glasgow Police Department for their alleged mismanagement of that case, and the officer at the center of the suit is also being pursued by other Glasgow residents for similar acts of misconduct.

But while the Kolstads have experienced an outpouring of support on an international level after taking their story public, Governor Gianforte appears to be doubling down once again.

This time, the Kolstads have been made aware through their lawyer that they may be arrested when they return to Montana from Ohio where they are still caring for a sick relative.

“We were very concerned, but not surprised, to learn from a credible source that the Governor of Montana plans to arrest us the moment we step foot back in Montana. We are also told that he has tasked his senior adviser and director of strategic communications to use the media to punish us for speaking out about the state’s medical kidnapping of our daughter,” Krista Kolstad said to Reduxx in an exclusive statement.

“It was an abuse of power for the state to revoke custody of our daughter because we wouldn’t affirm her ‘gender identity.’ It is an abuse of power to use tax-dollars to smear us as negligent in the press despite records that prove we have always proactively sought care for our daughter’s ongoing, unrelated mental health issues. We have also followed medical recommendations pertaining to these issues since she has been in state custody. The only thing we ever objected to is ‘transitioning’ our daughter.”

Krista continued: “Any accusation that she was taken from our home due to abuse or neglect secondary to this issue is a bald-faced lie with political foundations. Our daughter is not a political pawn. She is a child and she should be with her family – not the state. We are never going to stop fighting for our daughter.”

Since receiving the news of their possible arrest, the Kolstads have no plan to return to Montana at this time.

Mattie Watkins, the family’s media representative reiterated Krista’s sentiments, and slammed Gianforte’s office for participating in the “smear” campaign against the Kolstads.

“We anticipated Governor Gianforte’s next move would be to smear US Air Force veteran, Todd Kolstad and his wife, Krista, as abusive parents. It’s clear that his top priority is his political reputation – not the child at the center of this increasingly political fight,” Watkins said.

“Surely to defame parents as abusive, to take away their child, requires some standard of evidence. If not, where does this stop? Which family, in which state, is next? In my opinion, Gianforte is giving state agents a manual on how to sever the parent-child relationship and bypass all levels of law and government in order to put any minor they like on the affirmation to lifelong medicalization pipeline. Our children are not safe in government care.”

*The child’s name has been changed at the request of her parents.

[zaza-expert]

If you don't live in montana I cannot possibly express to you the sheer amount of "shady sheehy" ads there are. It's genuinely unreal, I tried to explain it to a friend from out of state before he visited and he brushed it off and then the first night we were hanging out we tried to watch a YouTube video and saw at least 4. I'm so fucking sick of this I need to be able to watch an episode of my damn show without 80 billion ads about a politician I wasn't going to vote for anyway !!!

[n0thingiscool]

Last week, the judge in Held v. Montana handed down a victory for the 16 young plaintiffs, who argued that the state’s continued production of fossil fuels violated their constitutional rights. Advocates say the landmark ruling could have broad ramifications for future climate litigation. But it’s also clear that Montana was woefully unprepared to face climate science on trial.

[politicaldilfs]

Montana Governor DILFs

Greg Gianforte, Ted Schwinden, Marc Racicot, J. Hugo Aronson, Elmer Holt, Brian Schweitzer, Forrest H. Anderson, John E. Erickson, Frank Henry Cooney, Stan Stephens, Thomas Lee Judge, John W. Bonner, Roy E. Ayers, Sam C. Ford, Steve Bullock, Tim Babcock

[genderqueerpositivity]

There are a lot of calls for trans folks, parents of trans kids, and allies to abandon and boycott red states that are passing anti-trans laws.

And something that gets left out of that conversation often is that the people supporting and lobbying for those laws, voting for the representatives who support those laws, and even signing those bills into law--they're our own family.

Because trans people are everywhere. No matter where you are, you have--at the very least--met a trans person; whether you realize it or not, we're your neighbors, coworkers, and children.

I hope that Gov. Gianforte will be moved by his child's words; but unfortunately, parents in this country choose their politics and their god over their own children everyday.

I do commend them for coming out and speaking up; this is absolutely a courageous thing they have done. It isn't an easy thing at all to come out as trans to someone who thinks of trans people as less than human, especially when that someone is your own flesh and blood.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mira Lazine at Erin In The Morning:

On Tuesday, Missoula County District Court Judge Shane Vannatta of the 4th Judicial District Court ruled that Montana’s Senate Bill 458, a bill that defined trans people out of the law, was unconstitutional. The order was struck down on a technicality - it was determined that the bill’s title was vague due to there being multiple meanings of the term “sex,” along with a lack of clarity regarding the usage of the words “male” and “female” in the title. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that due to the ambiguity in the title, Montanans could come to the conclusion that the state is endorsing discrimination against transgender and intersex individuals. “The court does not insert its opinion in this order as to what title should have been used or should be used,”Judge Vannatta said. “Rather, the court has concluded that the word ‘sex’ in the title has not been clearly distinguished (i.e.,intercourse or gender) and that the subject in the body of the Bill (providing a definition for ‘female and ‘male’) has not been identified in the title.” Senate Bill 458 defines sex as strictly belonging to “males” and “females” based on chromosomes and gamete production, making no exception for intersex individuals and thus putting a halt to legal protections for transgender individuals. It redefined sex as such in 41 different legislative contexts, potentially upending the lives of many transgender Montanans. It was signed by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte, and it explicitly ignored the dominant scientific view that sex is a spectrum and can be changed, and is not strictly defined as ‘male’ or ‘female.’ The bill was introduced in 2023 during a Republican-majority legislature that was actively working to oppose transgender rights. The legislature had passed a bill, Senate Bill 99, that banned gender affirming care for minors, however it was later overturned by U.S. District Court Judge Jason Marks. They had also barred lawmaker Zooey Zephyr from the House floor during the legislative session after she pushed back against the gender affirming care ban, citing “decorum” while silencing one of the few transgender representatives in the state.

In Reagor v. Montana, Missoula County District Court Judge Shane Vannatta ruled that Montana’s anti-trans extremist trans erasure bill SB458 is unconstitutional due to vagueness in the meaning of “sex” and lacking clarity on usage of the terms “male” or “female.”

[azspot]

Meanwhile, there is Greg Gianforte, Montana governor, elected to Congress days after he beat up a reporter asking him question. Gianforte is a billionaire from New Jersey who moved to a big ranch in Montana to cosplay as a cowboy. You have Ryan Zinke in the House, the former Secretary of the Interior, who at least from Montana, even if he is the true definition of all hat, no cattle, to real Montana outdoorspeople. And then there is Montana’s other congresscritter, a rich Maryland guy who moved to a big ranch in Montana to cosplay as a cowboy who is somehow worse than all these other people, a genuinely reprehensible human. At least he’s been more or less forced out of politics by Republicans who want to keep things at least sorta respectable, but he’s going to be replaced by Troy Downing, a rich California guy who moved to a big ranch in Montana to cosplay as a cowboy.

What Happened to Montana?

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Hey, I wanted to thank you for disussing what’s happening in Florida right now. I also want to bring more awareness to what’s happening in my home state.

Montana governor Greg Gianforte just signed into law Senate Bill 458, legislation that inserts binary, reproduction-based (ie XX or XY chromosomes) definitions of “male,” “female” and “sex” into dozens of parts of state code.

This is but one of a recent slew of attacks on the LQBTQ+ community. Myself and most of my friends will be impacted by this and are scared about the precedents this sets.

Wow. I haven't heard about this one. Thank you for letting me know!

-fae

[the-football-chick]

Lawmakers in Montana’s House voted 54-43 to approve a bill, SB419, to ban TikTok in the state. Should Republican Governor Greg Gianforte sign the bill, it would take effect in January 2024, and prohibit TikTok from operating within state lines and app stores from offering TikTok for downloads.

Most assuredly if signed, the bill will face significant legal challenges.

IG: worldstar (4/14/23)

[geezerwench]

Republican "small government" passed yet another law. In Montana, state lawmakers passed a bill, SB419, banning TikTok. Completely. For everyone, not just state employees. Next, it goes to the governor's desk for signing.

----

"Montana became the first US state on Friday to pass legislation banning TikTok on all personal devices, sending a bill to Gov. Greg Gianforte prohibiting TikTok from operating within state lines and barring app stores from offering TikTok for downloads." - - CNN

Get you a VPN, gentles and ladymen.

[tomorrowusa]

An unusual legal victory for Planet Earth. And it happened in red Montana – of all places.

In a historic decision on Monday, a Montana state court ruled in favor of 16 young climate activists who claimed the state’s provisions to an environmental act violated their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. “Today, for the first time in U.S. history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change and disproportionately imperil young people,” said Julia Olson, chief legal counsel and executive director of Our Children’s Trust, in a statement. Along with Our Children’s Trust, the young plaintiffs — now ages 5 to 22— are represented by attorneys with the Western Environmental Law Center and McGarvey Law. Together, they helped the plaintiffs sue Montana, its Governor Greg Gianforte and several state agencies in a lawsuit representing the first constitutional climate case in the United States.

It's a first, so that does set a bit of a precedent – even if the fossil fuel pushers get the ruling thrown out on appeal.

Lewis and Clark County Court Judge Kathy Seeley found Montana's energy laws allowed the state to permit projects without considering the impact of increasing greenhouse gas emissions. [ ... ] “By prohibiting consideration of climate change,” Seeley later wrote, “GHG emissions and how additional GHG emissions will contribute to climate change or be consistent with the Montana Constitution, the MEPA limitation violates plaintiffs’ right to a clean and healthful environment as is facially unconstitutional.”

Of course Republicans are hopping mad that the well-being of the planet was placed ahead of fossil fuel producer profits.

“This ruling is absurd, but not surprising from a judge who let the plaintiffs’ attorneys put on a weeklong taxpayer-funded publicity stunt that was supposed to be a trial,” said Emily Flower, spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, in a statement. Flower added that “Montanans can’t be blamed for changing the climate” and that the “same legal theory has been thrown out of federal court and courts in more than a dozen states.” In a previous statement, Flower called the entire lawsuit a “meritless publicity stunt” to increase fundraising for Our Children’s Trust “at the expense of Montana taxpayers.

Republicans care less about Montana taxpayers than they do about campaign contributions from the carbon lobby.

This was a local case decided under Montana law and provides another example of why we must get more involved in state politics and government.

[mariacallous]

BREAKING NEWS

The Republican governor of Montana signed a bill into law to restrict transition care for transgender minors.

Friday, April 28, 2023 8:32 PM ET

Gov. Greg Gianforte had been urged by his son, who is nonbinary, to reject the bill. The Republican-controlled House barred a transgender lawmaker from the House floor after the debate.

[sparky-tubgoat]

This administration is a threat to our national security.

[isthedogawolfdog]

So does anyone else remember when Montana governor Greg Gianforte killed a wolf back in 2021, violating Montana’s regulations and got away with only a slap on the wrist?

Cause I sure do.

[beardedmrbean]

NEW YORK (AP) — Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed into law a first-of-its kind bill that makes it illegal for TikTok to operate in the state, setting up a potential legal fight with the company amid a litany of questions over whether the state can even enforce the law.

The new rules in Montana will have more far-reaching effects than TikTok bans already in place on government-issued devices in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government. There are 200,000 TikTok users in Montana as well as 6,000 businesses that use the video-sharing platform, according to company spokesperson Jamal Brown.

Here’s what you need to know:

WHY IS MONTANA BANNING TIKTOK?

Proponents of the law in Montana claim the Chinese government could harvest U.S. user data from TikTok and use the platform to push pro-Beijing misinformation or messages to the public.

That mirrors arguments made by a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. Senate, as well as the heads of the FBI and the CIA, all of whom have said TikTok could pose a national security threat because its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance operates under Chinese law.

Critics have pointed to China’s 2017 national intelligence law that compels companies to cooperate with the country’s governments for state intelligence work. Another Chinese law, implemented in 2014, has similar mandates.

TikTok says it has never been asked to hand over its data, and it wouldn’t do so if asked.

HOW DOES MONTANA PLAN TO BAN TIKTOK?

The law will prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state and fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone accesses TikTok, “is offered the ability” to access it, or downloads it.

That means Apple and Google, which operate app stores on Apple and Android devices, would be liable for any violations. Penalties would not apply to users.

The statewide ban won't take effect until January 2024. It would be void if the social media platform is sold to a company that is not based in "any country designated as a foreign adversary” by the federal government.

The governor indicated he wants to expand the bill to other social media apps in order to address some of the bill’s “technical and legal concerns.” But the legislature adjourned before sending him the bill, which meant he couldn’t offer his amendments.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has pointed to technology used to restrict online sports gambling apps as a way to curtail TikTok from operating in the state. Those violations can be reported by anyone. And once the state verifies a breach has taken place, it sends a cease-and-desist letter to the company involved, said Kyler Nerison, a spokesperson for Knudsen's office. He said different companies use different methods for compliance and it's up to them “to not allow their apps to work in Montana and other states where they are not legal.”

SO, COULD THE TIKTOK BAN WORK?

Cybersecurity experts say that, other than avoiding the fine, there's nothing incentivizing the companies involved to comply and it will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — to adequately enforce the law.

For one, the U.S. doesn't have anything equivalent to the type of control countries like China have on what their citizens access on the web. Compounding that, internet service providers are out of the picture.

Before the Montana law passed, lawmakers rewrote portions of the bill to let them off the hook after a lobbyist for AT&T said during a February hearing the legislation was “not workable” to put into effect.

COULD TECH COMPANIES BLOCK IT?

Apple and Google have not spoken out against the law. But a representative for TechNet, the trade group that counts the two tech giants as its members, has said app stores don’t have the ability to “geofence” apps in different states and it would be impossible to prevent TikTok from being downloaded in Montana. The group has also said the responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store.

Telecoms analyst Roger Entner, of Recon Analytics, says he believes the app stores could have the capability to enforce the law, but it would be cumbersome to implement and full of loopholes. Apple and Google’s address-linked billing could be bypassed with prepaid cards and IP geolocation easily masked by using a VPN service, which can alter IP addresses and allows users to evade content restrictions, said mobile security expert Will Strafach, the founder of Guardian, which makes a privacy protection app for Apple devices.

Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at the cybersecurity firm Check Point, agreed it would be difficult for app stores to isolate a single state from downloading an app. He suggested it would be more feasible for TikTok to comply since it controls the software and can “adjust the settings based on the geographical location or IP addresses" of users.

COULD TIKTOK BLOCK ITSELF?

When users allow TikTok to collect their location information, it can track a person to at least 3 square kilometers (1.16 square miles) from their actual location. If that feature is disabled, TikTok can still collect approximate location information - such as the region, city or zip code in which a user may be located - based on device or network information, like an IP address.

But similar to the app stores, cybersecurity experts note that any enforcement measures the company implements could be easily bypassed with a VPN and efforts to use IP geolocating might lead to other issues.

David Choffnes, the executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University, said cell providers may use the same types of IP addresses for multiple states, which could mean someone who is not in Montana could incorrectly be blocked from using TikTok.

WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT?

Likely a legal battle.

Knudsen, Montana's attorney general, has already said he expects the law will end up in court.

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter said in a prepared statement Wednesday that the law infringes on Montanan's free speech rights and is unlawful.

“We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana,” Oberwetter said.

Oberwetter declined to say if the company will file a lawsuit but described some of the legal issues at play. She argued Montana is attempting to override U.S. foreign policy by claiming the bill addresses a national security risk. She said foreign policy and national security laws are not made at the state level.

NetChoice, a trade group that represents TikTok and other tech companies, says the bill would violate the First Amendment and “bill of attainder” laws that prohibit the government from imposing a punishment on a specific entity without a formal trial.