Nationwide Poll Shows Wide Opposition to Montana’s TikTok Ban
Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - A new poll by an organization called North Star Inbound found that Montana Governor Greg Gianforte’s (and the state legislature's) ban on the popular TikTok app is wildly unpopular among current TikTok users.
KGVO News spoke to Matt Zajechowski with North Star Inbound about the results of the snap poll.
A New Poll Shows that TikTok Users Are Fiercely Loyal to the App
“We polled 1,000 TikTok users to assess their opinions about the evolving situation that's going on with TikTok being banned in the U.S.,” began Zajechowski. “In short, we found that American TikTok users are reporting frustration with this ban and that they're largely unafraid of Chinese spying which was one of the main reasons incited by the Montana governor for this ban.”
Zajechowski said a very small percentage of those polled were in favor of the new Montana law banning TikTok in the state.
Only 18 Percent of Users Favor Montana or a National Ban
“Overall, we found that 51 percent of TikTok users say they aren't concerned that beyond Montana, the US is going to take this a full step further in business and nationally as well,” he said. “So there's definitely concern that like I mentioned that this might be the first domino in a chain of events. Surprisingly, only 18 percent of the current users that we surveyed said they actually support the idea of the ban. So there's, you know, a lot of backlash against this idea.”
Interestingly, a near majority of TikTok users polled said they would rather be spied upon than lose the TikTok app.
TikTok Users said they would Rather be Spied Upon than Lose the App
“We asked them if they were forced to choose between being spied on or losing access to TikTok, and almost half of the users said that they would choose to be spied on which was kind of surprising, but just goes to show you how much people actually love this app despite what I think are very valid security concerns.”
On the off chance that the entire nation passed a similar TikTok ban, Zajechowski said die-hard social media users would go elsewhere to get what they want.
“We also asked users if TikTok is banned, what would you use as a substitute?” he asked. “The top four responses were YouTube shorts, which is a form of YouTube videos, and Instagram Reels, again very similar and popular on that platform. Snapchat was number three and then ‘other’ came in at 4 percent. So I think that TikTok users are definitely prepared for the effects not just in Montana but more wide-ranging across the U.S.”
North Star Inbound utilized the services of cybersecurity firm Secure Data Recovery to poll 1,000 TikTok users.