A judge has blocked the TikTok ban in Montana, which was passed by law last May and was due to go into effect on January 1.
The controversial TikTok ban in Montana (United States) has been blocked in court. A judge has ruled that an injunction issued against the law passed by Montana to ban the Chinese social network in its territory is justified. That rule, which was given the green light in Montana last May, could violate the U.S. Constitution, the magistrate argues.
The judge’s ruling means that the law to veto the use of TikTok in Montana cannot go into effect until the lawsuits filed against the rule are decided. Signed by Greg Gianforte, the governor of Montana, the law of discord was born with the vocation of prohibiting downloads of the TikTok app in this state as of January 1, 2024.
Gianforte justified at the time the veto of TikTok on the grounds that the aim was to protect the personal data of Montana citizens from the Communist Party of China (with which the social network would have a very close link, according to gossip).
However, both TikTok users and the social network itself took legal action against the rule.
Montana’s TikTok Ban Would Be Unconstitutional
Judge Donald Molloy believes there is a high likelihood that the plaintiffs will assert their case in court on the grounds that the TikTok ban infringes on constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.
A few years ago an action brought against TikTok by former U.S. President Donald Trump similarly failed on similar grounds.
TikTok has the distinction of being the only non-US online platform to have achieved success in the West. There is, however, suspicion, particularly in Europe and the United States, that the app could be used by the Chinese authorities to collect information on its users. In fact, the governments of several Western countries and the European Commission have vetoed the use of TikTok on their officials’ phones.
TikTok flatly rejects the allegations and does not, in fact, see itself as a subsidiary of a Chinese company. ByteDance, the parent company of the social network, is, not surprisingly, 60% controlled by investors from the West. And it is also legally domiciled in the Cayman Islands.
Critics of the social network argue, however, that the Chinese founders of TikTok, despite a mere 20% stake in the company, control the platform thanks to a higher proportion of voting rights within the organization. Moreover, ByteDance’s headquarters are in Beijing, TikTok’s fiercest critics point out.