TikTok argues the ban violates the First Amendment rights of the company and its users. — Reuters
WASHINGTON: TikTok Inc filed a lawsuit challenging the state of Montana’s new ban on the use of the Chinese-owned app, the first state to bar the popular short-video sharing service.
TikTok argues the ban, which would take effect on Jan 1, violates the First Amendment rights of the company and its users.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Montana, also argues the ban is preempted by federal law because it intrudes upon matters of exclusive federal concern and violates the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, which limits the authority of states to enact legislation that unduly burdens interstate and foreign commerce.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance and used by more than 150 million Americans, has faced growing calls from US lawmakers and state officials to ban the app nationwide over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform.
Montana could impose fines of US$10,000 (RM45,500) for each violation by TikTok and additional fines of US$10,000 per day if it violates the ban.
The law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok users. It is not clear how Montana would enforce a TikTok ban.
Former President Donald Trump in 2020 sought to bar new downloads of TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, and related transactions, which the companies said at the time could have effectively barred US use of the apps, but a series of court decisions blocked the bans from taking effect. — Reuters
