TikTok files lawsuit to overturn Montana’s planned app ban

ELENA, mont. (AP) – Social media company TikTok Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to strike down Montana’s law first ban in the country on a video-sharing app, arguing that the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and is based on “unfounded assumptions” that the Chinese government can access users’ data.

TikTok lawsuit owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance follows lawsuit filed last week by five content creators. They made similar arguments, including that the state of Montana does not have the authority to take action on matters of national security. Both lawsuits were filed in federal court in Missoula.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill on Wednesday, and a lawsuit against content creators was filed hours later. It is planned that the law will come into force in January. 1, but cybersecurity experts talk about it may be difficult to enforce.

Tiktok says so did not share and will not share US user data with the Chinese government and have taken steps to protect the privacy and security of its users, including storing all US user data. In the United Statesaccording to the claim.

Some legislators FBI and officials from other agencies are concerned that the video-sharing app can be used allow the Chinese government to access information about US citizens or spread pro-Beijing disinformation that could affect the public.

Chinese law obliges Chinese companies to share data with the government for any purpose it deems related to national security. Tiktok says it never happened.

“The Chinese Communist Party uses TikTok as a tool to spy on Americans, collecting personal information, keystrokes and even the location of its users — and accordingly, people without TikTok who are connected to users can share information about themselves without even knowing it. . it,” Montana Department of Justice spokeswoman Emily Flower said.

“We anticipated legal challenges and are fully committed to defending legislation that helps protect the privacy and security of Montana residents,” she wrote.

The federal government and about half of the US states, including Montana, have banned the use of TikTok on government devices.

New Montana law bans TikTok downloads in the state. Any “organization” — an app store or TikTok — will be fined $10,000 a day for every time someone is “offered the opportunity” to access the social media platform or download the app. Penalties will not apply to users.

There has been talk of a TikTok ban since 2020 when the then president Donald Trump tried to ban the company from operating in the US through an executive order that was suspended in federal courts. Congress also considered banning the app for security reasons.