TikTok sues Montana after state bans app

LOS ANGELES — Social networking platform TikTok filed a lawsuit on Monday against the western US state of Montana, seeking to overturn the state's ban on the video-sharing app.

The move came after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 last week, making Montana the first US state to prohibit the use of or access to the social network. The law, scheduled to take effect Jan 1, 2024, also faces questions over whether it can be enforced.

"We are challenging Montana's unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana," said TikTok, based in Los Angeles and specializing in user-made short videos, in a statement. "We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts."

TikTok's lawsuit, filed in the US District Court, stated that "every month, more than 150 million US citizens use the app to express themselves and connect with others" and that the ban violates the First Amendment.

The lawsuit also stated that Montana has enacted some "extraordinary and unprecedented measures based on nothing more than unfounded speculation".

"To halt this unlawful conduct, plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment and order invalidating and preliminarily and permanently enjoining defendant from enforcing the TikTok ban," said the company in its complaint.

There are 200,000 TikTok users in Montana and 6,000 businesses that use the video-sharing platform, according to company spokesperson Jamal Brown.

The lawsuit filed Monday by TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, says the new law violates the Constitution's right to free speech. It says the law is based on unfounded speculation that the Chinese government could access users' data.

Allegations debunked

"The state cites nothing to support these allegations," the company's attorneys wrote.

Another lawsuit was filed against Montana by five TikTok content creators last week. The plaintiffs, which included businesspeople, a rancher, a student and a veteran, all create, publish, view, interact with and share TikTok videos with "significant audiences".

They said these communities allow users to connect, build livelihoods, make friends, and share information, so they must bring this action to preserve their rights to publish.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union tweeted last week that "this law tramples on our free speech rights under the guise of national security and lays the groundwork for excessive government control over the Internet".

Agencies - Xinhua