The Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok has claimed the state of Montana’s ban on the app violates the First Amendment rights of users in the state.
As Breitbart News reported on Thursday, Montana became the first state to issue a full-scale ban on the social media giant, fearing its connection to communist-controlled China could compromise people’s privacy.
When issuing the ban, Republican Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said the law would “protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party.”
“The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented,” Gianforte said.
“Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party,” the governor added.
In response, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwette said in a statement that Gianforte “has signed a bill that infringes on the First Amendment rights of the people of Montana by unlawfully banning TikTok, a platform that empowers hundreds of thousands of people across the state.”
“We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside Montana,” she said.
As Fox Business noted, the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana and NetChoice both denounced the law as being unconstitutional.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a break in the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing titled ‘TikTok: How Congress Can Safeguard American Data Privacy And Protect Children From Online Harms,’ on Thursday, March 23, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty)
Keegan Medrano, policy director for the ACLU of Montana, said the ban tramples “on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information and run their small business, in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment.”
“Montana’s new law prohibits downloads of TikTok in the state and would fine any ‘entity’ – an app store or TikTok – $10,000 per day for each time someone ‘is offered the ability’ to access the social media platform or download the app,” noted Fox Business.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned last November that the Chinese app TikTok has proved a national security threat.
“Under Chinese law, Chinese companies are required to essentially — and I’m going to shorthand here — basically do whatever the Chinese government wants them to do in terms of sharing information or serving as a tool of the Chinese government,” Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee.
Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem recently banned TikTok on state devices, citing national security concerns.
“South Dakota will have no part in the intelligence gathering operations of nations who hate us. The Chinese Communist Party uses information that it gathers on TikTok to manipulate the American people, and they gather data off the devices that access the platform,” Noem announced.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed on Tubi, Google Play, YouTube Movies, or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.