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Lawsuits have already begun after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, a Republican, signed a bill last week to ban TikTok in the state. At the time, he announced on Twitter that the ban was “to protect the personal and personal information of Montanas from the Chinese Communist Party.”
Montana became the first state to ban a video-sharing app owned by Chinese company ByteDance. The new law calls for fines of $10,000 per day for violators, including app stores.
“There has already been one lawsuit filed by a TikTok user group in Montana, and we expect to see more similar lawsuits in the coming weeks,” it said. Daniel R. Gutenplana partner of EPG Lawyers.
“TikTok’s restrictions will allow more than 200,000 Montana-based TikTok users and thousands of small businesses to use the app to post content without incurring large fines or penalties. It almost certainly restricts free speech by preventing people from doing so,” Gutenplan said. “People who oppose this law, including TikTok users, the ACLU, other human rights groups, and possibly TikTok itself, will likely challenge the law in court on multiple fronts.”
But Gianforte and the Montana government have argued that speech bans serve national security interests by preventing the Chinese government from accessing user data of Montana residents.
“For the Montana government to successfully overcome these challenges and comply with the law, the government must ensure that the threats to privacy and security are real and significant, and that the government will address those threats through less intrusive means. We have to show that we can’t,” Gutenplan said.
“There is certainly the potential for the Chinese government to access user data and information through TikTok. I’m not aware of it, so that seems to be the only ‘threat’ at the moment,” Gutenplan said.
Those challenging the law are likely to seek immediate injunctive relief, asking courts to temporarily suspend the ban pending the outcome of litigation.
“We should be shown early by the courts on the feasibility of such challenges. “I have no doubt that these cases will eventually be appealed, possibly to the Supreme Court in a few years,” Gutenplan said. It will be taken,” he said.
TMX contributed to this story.