TikTok has more than 100 million users in the US. Knudsen’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The suit names Montana’s attorney general, Austin Knudsen, who is charged with enforcing the law. TikTok is arguing Montana “banishes TikTok, and just TikTok, from the state for purely punitive reasons, as evidenced by the state’s decision to single out plaintiff for harsh penalties based on speculative concerns about TikTok’s data security and content moderation practices”. The federal government, and more than half of US states, have prohibited the app on government devices and the Biden administration has threatened a national ban unless its parent company sells its shares. Still, Donald Trump in 2020 sought to bar new downloads of TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, but a series of court decisions blocked the bans from taking effect. The company has denied that it has ever shared data with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked. Montana’s ban comes amid increasing scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over its ties to China.
Gianforte has argued the law will “protect Montanans’ personal and private data from being harvested by the Chinese Communist party”. The group included a former marine sergeant, an exercise influencer, a rancher and a small swimwear business. The state, the plaintiffs argued, seeks to “exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress”. The law would fine any “entity” – whether an app store or the social media company itself – for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access the platform or download the app.Ī group of TikTok creators had already sued to block the law, arguing it violates their first amendment rights. On Wednesday, Montana’s governor, Greg Gianforte, signed legislation that bans the app and prohibits the Google and Apple app stores from offering it within the state starting next year.
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