TikTok Users Sue Montana State Over App Ban

Users of social media platform TikTok have appealed to court in order to challenge a recent ban of the application issued by Montana state, The New York Times reported, citing the applicants’ lawsuit.

On Wednesday, Montana governor’s office released a statement saying that Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation banning TikTok from operating in the state in order to “protect Montanans’ personal, private, and sensitive data and information from intelligence gathering by the Chinese Communist Party.”

“Plaintiffs, creators and viewers of content on TikTok, bring this lawsuit to challenge An Act … [which] attempts to exercise power over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress,” the lawsuit stated.

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The TikTok users said that the governor’s act violates their rights provided by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which ensures everyone freedom of speech, and oversteps Montana’s legal authority.

In late April, The Wall Street Journal reported that Gianforte requested local legislators to make amendments to the bill, which was designed to ban TikTok, in order to broaden it on all social media applications that could provide foreign countries with information.

In December, the governor banned TikTok on government devices in Montana.