A federal judge in Montana has blocked a bid to ban TikToK in the state.
The state-wide ban would have come into effect on 1 January 2024 and would have seen Montana become the first US state to ban TikTok, which is owned by the China-based tech giant ByteDance.
Judge Donald Molloy said he blocked the ban because it “oversteps state power” and Montana failed to show how the original SB 419 bill would be “constitutionally permissible,” among other reasons, according to a legal filing released on Thursday.
“Despite the State’s attempt to defend SB 419 as a consumer protection bill, the current record leaves little doubt that Montana’s legislature and Attorney General were more interested in targeting China’s ostensible role in TikTok than with protecting Montana consumers,” Judge Molloy wrote in the filing.
Judge Molloy’s ruling was a preliminary injunction, so it is possible the ban can still be reinstated.
The bill was signed into law by state governor Greg Gianforte in May with the aim of “protecting Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance,” he claimed.
Under the law, Montana’s 200,000 TikTok users did not face any repercussions for using the app, however TikTok and other companies faced a $10,000 daily fine for each time someone accessed the app or was “offered the ability” to download it.
Opponents of the bill have argued that it violates users’ First Amendment rights.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement the company is “pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law and hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to express themselves, earn a living, and find community on TikTok.”
ByteDance sued Montana in May to “prevent the state of Montana from unlawfully banning TikTok,” the company said at the time, after state officials alleged the Chinese government “could access data about TikTok users, and that TikTok exposes minors to harmful online content.”
TikTok has previously insisted that it does not share data with the Chinese government.
Montana attorney general said in a statement that the judge’s decision is merely “a preliminary matter at this point,” adding that the state will continue to defend the ban.
In January 2020, the United States Army and Navy banned TikTok on government devices after the Defense Department labeled it a security risk.
US lawmakers have expressed concern over the ability of the Chinese Communist Party to access the data of US citizens using the app, and have considered implementing a nationwide ban on TikTok.
