TikTok is going through one of its worst moments. The banning of the popular short video app in the United States has been hanging over the airwaves for months now, reaching the point where TikTok has already been banned on official devices in both the US and other countries, including Canada, the UK and France, as well as European institutions.
A few days ago, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte took the first step towards banning TikTok on U.S. soil, signing a law that will veto the app from app stores such as the Play Store and App Store in his state. SB 419, which will not be effective until January 1, 2024, would penalize any app store or entity hosting TikTok with a whopping $10,000 per day.
Given this situation, it was to be expected that TikTok would fight back, and it has. The company has sued the state of Montana for this new law, which it considers “unconstitutional”.
“We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional ban on TikTok to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement echoed by The Verge. “We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts.”
The complaint filed by TikTok asserts that Montana’s ban would be unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. In addition, TikTok argues that such a ban would be unlawful because only the federal government, headed by Joe Biden, can place restrictions to remedy a national security threat.
This lawsuit would join another filed last Thursday in Montana by a group of content creators. Like TikTok itself, the complaint of this group of tiktokers describes the ban as unconstitutional and considers that it violates their freedom of expression.
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