TikTok accuses Montana of infringing First Amendment in statewide ban
Jenny Goldsberry
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Social media company TikTok issued a response Wednesday after Montana banned the platform.
Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) signed the legislation on Wednesday, prohibiting app stores from providing access to the TikTok app and also prohibiting the use of social networks that share information with countries such as China and Iran. Now the Montana Department of Justice has the ability to fine app stores or TikTok parent company ByteDance $10,000 a day for each violation.
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“Governor Gianforte has signed a bill that infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok, a platform that empowers hundreds of thousands of people across the state,” the platform wrote in a tweet. “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside Montana.”
https://twitter.com/TikTokComms/status/1659000310919036934
A spokesperson for TikTok would not confirm to the Washington Examiner that the platform plans to file a lawsuit, but the company implied that besides the alleged infringement of the First Amendment, there was another legal problem with the law. The spokesperson pointed out that bans such as this one have yet to survive the court system.
As the law has gone into effect, searches within Montana for virtual private networks, which allow users to bypass location restrictions, have also increased. Searches saw peaks after April 14, when the bill passed the House, according to data from Google Trends. In particular, Nord VPN, a company that provides the service, saw an increase of 450% in searches in the past seven days, and it continues to be on the rise. A TikTok spokesperson also alleged the state did not have the means to implement the ban perfectly.
TikTok is also in the midst of a public relations campaign titled “TikTok Sparks Good,” where it spotlights different influencers on its program. The campaign, which exists on all other social media platforms and is linked on TikTok’s website, includes videos from a soapmaker who earned a living via the platform before she even started her own website and a National Guardsman who shared ways in which veterans could earn more benefits.
“If my platform was taken away, it would be devastating because the people I’ve been able to help and benefit their lives — it all goes away,” National Guard member and TikTok influencer Jon Lynch said in a video.
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“To protect Montanan’s personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” Gianforte said.
Other states considering bans on the platform include Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Alabama, Iowa, Idaho, New Hampshire, Georgia, Virginia, Montana, West Virginia, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Ohio, New Jersey, and Arkansas.