US state faces suit over ban on TikTok

LOS ANGELES — Five TikTok content creators are suing Montana's attorney general over plans to impose a statewide ban on TikTok, arguing the ban that would prohibit Montana residents from using the popular app infringes on First Amendment rights and is "unconstitutional and preempted by federal law".

The move came after the Governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill on Wednesday making Montana the first US state to prohibit the use of or access to the social network for everyone.

The five plaintiffs, including a businesswoman, a rancher, a student and a veteran, all create, publish, view, interact with and share TikTok videos with "significant audiences".

They said these communities allow users to connect, build livelihoods, make friends and share information, so they must bring this action to preserve their rights to publish.

In their 44-page indictment applied to the District Court in Missoula of Montana, the group of creators said the law "attempts to exercise powers over national security that Montana does not have and to ban speech Montana may not suppress".

"Montana's claimed interests in (the law) are not legitimate and do not support a blanket ban on TikTok," the suit said.

The ban on TikTok in Montana "violated the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as the Foreign Affairs and Commerce Clauses of the United States Constitution", it said.

Gianforte said the move was aimed at defending the "State of Montana and its people against threats to our security, privacy and way of life".

However, local TikTok creators rejected this, saying the US government, instead of TikTok, was always collecting people's data.

The online magazine Slate quoted Christian Poole, who lives in the town of Bozeman, as saying: "No matter how far away you get from the government, no matter how secluded, you still are going to have some government presence in your everyday life, in everything you do."

Xinhua