In Montana, a TikTok ban can be a “kick in the face.”

Christian Poole, 20, considers himself “the unofficial ambassador of the state of Montana.”

On TikTok, his favorite social media platform, he posts lighthearted videos about the quirks of his home state. His nearly 420,000 followers reward him with hearts and smiling emojis.

But when Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill Wednesday that made his state the first in the country to ban the site, Mr. Poole, along with hundreds of thousands of users, the unlikely clash between TikTok’s mostly young users and international geopolitics.

Recent videos posted by mr. Poole, from Bozeman, covers topics such as cows, which outnumber people in Montana, and spring showers, which often bring frozen pellets called grauples, and no rain. He says he posts for fun, not money, and his goal with the app is simple: “I want to make people laugh.”

Mr Poole expected the ban to create numerous legal challenges, he said, so he “didn’t lose any sleep over it”.

He was also skeptical that it would be enforced, questioning the justification for it from the governor, a Republican, who called the bill “the single most decisive action by any state to prevent the collection of Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information.” by the Chinese Communist Party” in a statement.

“Nothing happens here. Nothing,” Mr Poole said Thursday. He added, “There are no major players in world politics or even global interactions between the United States and China who live here in Montana.”

If enforced, the law would not come into effect until early next year.

“It would take away all the hard work I’ve been doing for the past four years,” said Mr. Poole. “It would be a real kick in the face for me.”

Many young TikTok fans were more surprised than outraged.

“I don’t understand how they’re going to enforce it,” said Abi Edgar, 19, who works at the Big Dipper ice cream parlor in downtown Helena. She says she spends hours watching TikTok — perhaps scrolling through K-pop videos or news stories. “I’m confused why they’re banning it,” she said.

Ellen McLean, another 19-year-old who worked at the same store, was equally shocked by the decision.

“It keeps you busy when you’re bored,” she said of TikTok. “It’s lighter than other apps and people don’t care what they post.”

She added that it was good for Montana tourism. “It’s a really good place to promote Yellowstone and Glacier and Big Sky.”

Not all of the site’s fans are in their teens or twenties. Jeff Spurlin, 70, runs a crepe and coffee shop in Helena. His younger colleagues introduced him to TikTok, he said, and he now checks it daily for cooking videos, fitness tips and random fun facts.

He saw the ban, passed in a Republican-dominated legislature, as a reflection of the state’s recent shift to the right.

“In Montana’s current political climate, I’m not surprised,” he said. “It is more than conservative and far right. It’s scary conservative.”

While some federal officials worried that TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, could share sensitive user data with the Beijing government, Spurlin said he thought it odd that Montana would lead national efforts to ban it.

He speculated that concerns about Beijing spying may have been exacerbated in February, when a Chinese spy balloon flew over the state and drew national attention.

“The threat from China is real,” Spurlin said, “but it also brings with it some paranoia.”

TikTok, once known as a place to share crazy videos and trendy dance moves, has become an increasingly important public forum in recent years. It is used as a platform to discuss politics, as a search engine and source of news – and sometimes as a place to spread misinformation.

In Montana, users love hashtags like #bigskycountry, #lastbestplace, and #406, the state’s area code. They share videos of cityscapes — bookstores in Missoula, bars and cafes in Billings — alongside expansive views of glistening lakes, snow-capped mountains, river valleys, and rolling hills.

Some fear the app is too addictive, due to an algorithm that curates each user’s experience based on how they interact with the videos they watch.

“I worry about my kids using social media,” says Lisa Kelley, 42, a mother of two in Helena. “While there are benefits in terms of creativity and connection, kids use it way too much, and I think it’s important to have reasonable parental controls and privacy controls.”

Critics of the ban say banning TikTok in a single state would be technologically complex and difficult to enforce.

“I think if the state wants to prevent people from using TikTok, they need to show a little more teeth than they have so far,” said Paul Kim, 22, from Missoula. He speculated that state lawmakers could use the ban — and the legal challenges that are sure to follow — as a preview to see how similar legislative efforts across the country might play out.

Mr. Kim, an organizer and activist who also works for the American Civil Liberties Union but did not speak on behalf of the organization, said the TikTok algorithm had helped him connect with other people who shared his interests.

He uses TikTok to watch videos, he said, not post them. But he has appeared on the platform anyway: last month, a widely distributed video showed that Mr. Kim was arrested in Helena after he demonstrated in support of his House representative, Zooey Zephyr. Ms. Zephyr, a Democrat, was barred from the House floor after making impassioned arguments against a measure to ban hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. (The bill was later signed into law.)

Mr. Kim, who likes to explore the history of the Chinese experience in Montana, said the TikTok ban was also in line with a recurring theme in state politics: politicians in both parties are playing out geopolitical concerns about Beijing.

By the end of the day, the mix of international complications and Montana TikTok videos still felt like mismatched pieces. But the platform seemed as inescapable as ever.

“I was talking to an employee about escalators,” Mr Spurlin said on Thursday. “And he said, ‘There’s a Costco in California with an escalator.’ And I said, “How do you know?” He said, ‘I saw it on TikTok.’”