TikTok sues Montana over its contentious new app prohibition

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a TikTok ban last week. The corporation is now suing to keep the app in Montana.

TikTok claims Montana’s ban violates the Constitution by restricting its freedom to host and distribute user-generated material. TikTok also claims that Montana is overstepping its position by legislating national security issues rather than deferring to federal regulators, which hinders its interstate commerce.

If granted, an injunction would allow TikTok to operate in Montana while the courts resolve the problems.

“We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of Montana users,” TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told . “Our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts.”

In recent months, Congress and state legislators have pressured TikTok. Even though a state-level restriction on a specific app is unclear, Montana’s sweeping ban on TikTok escalates those dangers.

“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” Gianforte said last week, referring to unverified claims that the app shares data with China.

Five TikTok developers sued Montana last week, claiming the prohibition violates the First Amendment. “The law takes the broadest possible approach to its objectives, restricting and banning the protected speech of all TikTok users in Montana to prevent the speculative and unsubstantiated possibility that the Chinese government might direct TikTok Inc., or its parent, to spy on some Montana users,” the creators said.

It’s progressing…