Montana Governor Greg Gianforte on Wednesday signed
legislation to ban TikTok in the state, effective Jan. 1. The five users seek
to block the law, which makes it unlawful for the app stores of Alphabet's
Google and Apple to offer TikTok within the state.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Montana late on
Wednesday, names the state's attorney general, Austin Knudsen, who is charged
with enforcing the law.
The TikTok users argue the state seeks to "exercise
powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech
Montana may not suppress." The suit said users believe the law violates
their First Amendment rights.
"Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or
posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns
it or the ideas it publishes," the lawsuit said.
Emily Flower, a spokeswoman for Knudsen, said the state was
ready for lawsuits. "We expected a legal challenge and are fully prepared
to defend the law," she said.
TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, has faced
growing calls from US lawmakers and state officials to ban the app nationwide
over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform.
According to the lawsuit, the five plaintiffs, all Montana
residents, include a designer of sustainable swimwear who uses TikTok to
promote her company and engage with customers; a former US Marine Corps
sergeant who uses TikTok to connect with other veterans; a rancher who uses
TikTok to share content about her outdoor adventures; a student who is studying
applied human physiology and shares content about her outdoor adventures; and a
man who shares humorous videos on TikTok and earns revenue from the content he posts.
On Wednesday, following the governor's signing of the law,
Knudsen, who, like Gianforte, is a Republican, called TikTok "a Chinese
Communist Party spying tool that poses a threat to every Montanan."
TikTok on Wednesday, shortly after the governor signed the
bill, said Montana's ban "infringes on the First Amendment rights of the
people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok," and said it will
"continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of
Montana."
Gianforte said the bill will further "our shared
priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance."
TikTok has repeatedly denied that it has ever shared data
with the Chinese government and has said the company would not do so if asked.
The suit is assigned to Judge Donald Molloy, who was
appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1995.
Montana, which has a population of just over 1 million
people, said TikTok could face fines for each violation and additional fines of
$10,000 per day if it violates the ban.
An attempt by former President Donald Trump to ban new
downloads of TikTok and WeChat through a Commerce Department order in 2020 was
blocked by multiple courts and never took effect. © Reuters
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