TikTok Users File Lawsuit Against US State of Montana Over Law Banning App

Five TikTok content creators have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Montana’s first-in-the-nation ban on the video-sharing app, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.

The Montana residents also argued in a legal complaint, filed in federal court late Wednesday without public notice, that the state doesn’t have any authority over matters of national security.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law Wednesday and said it would protect Montana residents’ private data and personal information from being harvested by the Chinese government. The ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

“We expected a legal challenge and are fully prepared to defend the law,” said Emily Flower, spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Justice.

TikTok has argued the law infringes on people’s First Amendment rights.

However, spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday. She also declined to say whether the company helped coordinate the complaint.

The creators are five Montana residents who use the video-sharing app for things like to promoting a business, connecting with military veterans, introducing others to ranch life, sharing outdoor adventures or expressing their sense of humor. Some of them make significant money from the app, the complaint states.

The case could serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America many national lawmakers have envisioned. Cybersecurity experts say it could be difficult to enforce.

The lawsuit — filed just hours after Gianforte signed the measure into law — states the ban would “immediately and permanently deprive Plaintiffs of their ability to express themselves and communicate with others.”

“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 plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.

Some lawmakers, the FBI and officials at other agencies are concerned the video-sharing app, owned by ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on U.S. citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok says none of this has ever happened.