Montana lawmakers are at odds with President Donald Trump's move to temporarily spare the popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, which the state banned in 2023.

Though an early opponent of the video-based platform, Trump reversed course ahead of the 2024 election. In one of his first executive orders back in the White House this week, he directed the Department of Justice to delay enforcing a law that required TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or see it banned in the U.S.  

"Because I got to use it," Trump told reporters asking him what led to the change of heart on Monday. The president has an estimated 14.7 million followers on the social media platform. 

The GOP-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in March with the Democratic-led Senate following suit in April. President Joe Biden subsequently signed it into law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month. 

The high court's ruling drew applause at the time from Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. 

"The U.S. Supreme Court did right by the American people by upholding the law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party," Gianforte said in a statement. "China has used TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private and sensitive information." 

In a similar statement released after the ruling, Knudsen said the app should be banned, in compliance with the law, going forward.  

"There's no First Amendment right for foreign adversaries to spy on Americans,” Knudsen said. “TikTok poses a serious national security threat." 

TikTok cut off access to U.S. users over the weekend as the ban was poised to go into effect but restored it by Sunday. The company thanked Trump for pledging to give it respite upon his return to the Oval Office.  

Knudsen expressed disappointment in TikTok's restoration, saying, "We know the Chinese Communist Party is using TikTok to steal data and spy on Americans. It should be banned as Congress intended and the Supreme Court affirmed.”  

The attorney general pledged to take action to uphold the law. Spokesperson Emilee Cantrell said Wednesday that Knudsen is monitoring efforts to see TikTok comply with the federal law. 

“If anyone can reach an acceptable deal to keep TikTok operational in the United States while protecting the safety and security of Americans, it is President Trump,” Cantrell said. 

Knudsen will continue to defend Montana’s TikTok ban, which was on hold while the case around the federal ban worked through the court system, Cantrell said. A federal judge blocked the state ban from going into effect in 2023. 

Gianforte's office did not respond to requests for comment on whether he remained a supporter of the state’s ban. 

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican who voted for the federal ban, said the federal government should hold its ground on the law. He worried that China's communist government can use the app to manipulate Americans, particularly young Americans, all the while harvesting their data.  

"You cannot have a communist government with unlimited access to our data and the minds of young people in our country, it’s a national security risk," he said in an email to the Daily Inter Lake.  

Zinke noted that Trump initially sought the app's ban during his first term in the White House.  

"President Trump was the one who originally called for its ban in 2020 and although he has brought it back for a time, I still think the ownership has to be separated from a hostile government," Zinke said. 

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines' office echoed Zinke's remarks in an email over the weekend. The Republican considers TikTok a national security threat and warns that its users are risking their privacy.  

"Daines voted to ban TikTok unless ByteDance divests, and with the Supreme Court’s ruling, any business that supports TikTok’s operations is breaking the law and could be found liable in court," wrote Daines spokesperson Rachel Dumke.   

Newly elected U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy and U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, both Republicans, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.