TikTok Inc. filed a lawsuit on Monday to challenge Montana’s recent ban on using the Chinese-owned app, making Montana the first state to do so.
It claims the restriction, which would go into force on January 1, 2024, violates the company’s and its users’ First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Montana, also contends that the ban violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which restricts the ability of States to enact legislation that unduly burdens interstate and international trade, and that it is pre-empted by federal law because it intrudes upon matters of solely federal concern.
TikTok, controlled by Chinese company ByteDance and utilised by more than 150 million Americans, has come under increasing pressure from American lawmakers and other groups.
If TikTok violates the restriction, Montana may levy fines of $10,000 for each offence as well as an extra penalty of $10,000 daily. There are no sanctions for specific TikTok users under the legislation. How Montana would enact a TikTok ban is unclear.
The firms that operate TikTok and WeChat, a division of Tencent (0700. HK), claimed at the time that the prohibitions might have effectively halted U.S. usage of the applications. But a slew of court rulings prevented the bans from going into effect in 2020.
It is even more crucial for Congress to enact the legislation he filed to remove Montana’s restriction, according to Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The business claims in its lawsuit that it has “taken significant steps to protect the privacy and security of TikTok users” and “has not shared, and would not share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government.”
Five TikTok users from Montana filed a lawsuit last week in federal court to challenge the state’s prohibition.
The person tasked with upholding the legislation is Austin Knudsen, the attorney general of Montana, who is named in TikTok’s case. An inquiry for comment made on Monday did not immediately receive a response from Knudsen’s office.
Knudsen’s spokesman, Emily Flower, claimed that the state was prepared for legal action. She added on Monday, “We anticipated legal challenges and are completely prepared to defend the statute that helps protect Montanans’ security and privacy.”
