TikTok has filed a lawsuit and requested a preliminary injunction from US District Judge Donald W Molloy to block the enforcement of a ban on the Chinese-owned app in Montana. The ban is set to take effect on January 1 and is the first of its kind in a US state. TikTok argues that the ban violates the First Amendment free speech rights of the company and its users. The company’s President, Blake Chandlee, stated in a court filing that the ban would cause significant harm to TikTok’s business, brand, relationships with advertisers, and business partners both in the US and internationally.
TikTok also claims that the ban is preempted by federal law as it interferes with matters of exclusive federal concern. The company argues that the ban violates the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, which restricts state authority to pass legislation that unreasonably burdens interstate and foreign commerce.
TikTok has been under scrutiny in the US due to concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the app. Despite these concerns, TikTok insists that it has not shared and would not share user data with the Chinese government and has taken steps to protect user privacy and security.
If the ban takes effect, Montana could impose fines of $10,000 for each violation by TikTok. However, the law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok users. TikTok estimates that around 380,000 people in Montana use the app, which represents more than a third of the state’s population of 1.1 million.
It is worth noting that in 2020, former President Donald Trump attempted to ban new downloads of TikTok and WeChat, another Chinese-owned app. However, court decisions prevented the bans from being implemented. In this lawsuit, TikTok specifically names Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who is responsible for enforcing the ban, but there has been no immediate response from his office regarding the matter.
