The social media platform TikTok is suing Montana after it enacted a law on May 17 effectively banning the app within its borders. Teenagers often watch videos on TikTok. Some of the more bizarre videos are highlighted by Libs of TikTok on Twitter.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Montana today, TikTok claims that the ban “abridges freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment”, and violates other constitutional provisions, such as the Constitution’s ban on bills of attainder. “We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana,” the social media company said in the court filing.
While many states and federal agencies have limited or banned access to TikTok on government devices — based on concerns that data from the platform could be used by the Chinese government for surveillance — the Montana law goes further and bans the app from the state entirely.
The ban would take effect on January 1, 2024. When it goes into effect, it will prohibit TikTok from operating within Montana and ban app stores from offering TikTok for download, with violators facing fines.
TikTok has claimed such privacy concerns are unfounded and that it has never been asked to hand over user data to the Chinese government. Others have argued that U.S. intelligence agencies themselves enlist tech companies with global reach to conduct surveillance.
Groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have also questioned the ban’s constitutionality and pressed for evidence that the app is a national security threat.
“With this ban, Governor [Greg] Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” Keegan Medrano, policy director of the ACLU’s Montana branch, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Five TikTok users in the state also filed a lawsuit last week in an effort to have the law blocked before it takes effect.
“Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or the ideas it publishes,” their court complaint argued.
Emily Flower, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Justice, said the state had expected legal challenges and was “fully prepared to defend the law.”
