TikTok Sues Montana To Prevent The State From Banning The App

TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the US state of Montana in an attempt to overturn the state’s ban on people accessing the site.

TikTok is everywhere, with a massive user base creating, sharing, and viewing content, but perhaps not for much longer in Montana.

The state was the first in the country to enforce a ban on the platform due to worries that TikTok has close ties to the Chinese government.

The FBI has expressed concerns about TikTok’s impact on national security, with Director Christopher Wray warning that the Chinese government may use TikTok to ‘manage data collection on millions of users’ or conduct ‘influence operations’ by dictating what the site’s algorithm advises.

The platform is already prohibited on government devices in Montana, and a state-wide prohibition is set to go into force in January 2024, following legislative approval.

The prohibition would not prevent users who already have TikTok from using it, but app shops will be unable to market the platform to Montana residents once it goes into force.

However, TikTok filed a complaint yesterday (22 May) against the ‘unlawful’ suspension on their site, which they claim violates the first amendment right to free speech.

They stated, “We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban in order to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana.”

“Based on an extremely strong set of precedents and facts, we believe our legal challenge will prevail.”

Montana, a state of just more than a million people, is facing a charge that it is “unconstitutionally shutting down the forum for speech for all speakers on the app.”

TikTok is owned by the Chinese business ByteDance, which has often denied being under Chinese government control.

The platform claims to have over 150 million users in the United States – or just under half of all Americans – and their case against Montana claims that the state has overstepped its bounds by entering federal territory.

Consider the underprivileged people of Montana who would miss out on lucrative jobs such as being paid $100 per hour to watch videos on TikTok.

TikTok Sues Montana To Prevent The State From Banning The App

TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the US state of Montana in an attempt to overturn the state’s ban on people accessing the site.

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