The state of Montana has been sued by the video-sharing app Tiktok due to a recent statute that forbids the usage of the service there.
Following the bill’s enactment by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday, Montana became the first state in the US to outlaw the app. The law will come into force in January 2024.
Gainforte stated that the goal was “to protect Montanans’ private and personal information from the Chinese Communist Party.”
A representative for TikTok told CBS News that the restriction was “unconstitutional” and that the firm was certain it would win the case in court.
In an official statement, it was said that “we are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana.” Based on an extremely solid collection of precedents and evidence, “we believe our legal challenge will prevail.”
The ban, the company claimed in the lawsuit, “effects a prior restraint on the speech of Plaintiff and other TikTok users, unconstitutionally shutting down the forum for speech for all speakers on the app and singling out these speakers for disfavored treatment with the content-based rationale that videos on TikTok are harmful to minors.”
According to the lawsuit, a further defense for opposing the ban was that the US government, not a particular state, should have jurisdiction over security issues relating to the Chinese government’s access to user data.
As a result of the prohibition, which jeopardizes their livelihood, Montanan TikTok content makers have already sued the state government.
On Wednesday, a few hours after the governor gave his approval to the law, the organization filed the suit. According to them, the prohibition infringes upon their First Amendment freedom to access and produce “lawful speech.”
