It didn’t take long for a legal challenge to Montana’s TikTok ban. A day after Governor Greg Gianforte announced a statewide ban on the popular video-based social media app, five TikTok creators have filed a lawsuit challenging the decision. They claim the Montana law, SB 419, is unconstitutional and violates their First Amendment rights. The ban is to take effect on January 1, 2024, but these kinds of legal hurdles may delay it.
TikTok creators file lawsuit calling the ban in Montana unconstitutional
Earlier this week, Montana became the first US state to ban TikTok. The newly-signed law prevents mobile app stores such as the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store from letting users download the app within the territorial jurisdiction of the state. Operators of these stores could face a fine of $10,000 per violation per day, though there’s no penalty for residents who continue to use the app even after the ban is effective.
Montana’s decision came amid a nationwide debate over whether TikTok is a threat to national security. There are concerns that the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance has backdoors for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the country. It may expose American users’ data to the CCP, thus posing a risk to their privacy. The app is already banned on government-owned devices in most US states over similar concerns.
However, unsurprisingly, TikTok creators in Montana aren’t happy with the decision. Many of them earn their livelihood from the app and have expectedly taken the court’s route to try and block the ban from taking effect at the beginning of the next year. The lawsuit is filed by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in the United States District Court of Montana on behalf of TikTok creators. Ambika Kumar, who represented other creators in securing an injunction of President Trump’s 2020 ban on the app, is leading the case (via).
“Montana has no authority to enact laws advancing what it believes should be the United States’ foreign policy or its national security interests,” the plaintiffs argue. “SB 419 is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law. The Act violates the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the Foreign Affairs and Commerce Clauses of the United States Constitution.”
There may be more legal challenges to this decision
This lawsuit from TikTok creators may just be the beginning. Montana’s statewide ban on the app may face more legal challenges. The state’s Attorney General Austin Knudsen recently said that they were already expecting these lawsuits. “There are some important issues here that I do think we probably need the federal courts to step in and answer for us here,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “That was part of our calculus in bringing this [law].”
As of this writing, TikTok hasn’t announced if it plans to take Montana lawmakers to court over this ban. But the company is likely to bring its litigation over the matter. In a statement following the announcement of the ban, a TikTok spokesperson said that the firm will “defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana”. Meanwhile, federal officials are considering a nationwide ban on the app. Time will tell what the future holds for TikTok in the US.