Current:Home > reviewsMontana asks judge to allow TikTok ban to take effect while legal challenge moves through courts -BeyondProfit Compass
Montana asks judge to allow TikTok ban to take effect while legal challenge moves through courts
View
Date:2025-04-14 08:33:51
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana is asking a federal judge to allow its law banning new downloads of the video-sharing app TikTok to take effect in January while a challenge filed by the company and five content creators is decided by the courts.
The state filed its response Friday to the plaintiffs’ motion in July that asked U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy to temporarily prevent the law from being implemented until the courts can rule on whether it amounts to an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen had the bill drafted over concerns — shared by the FBI and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken — that the app, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on U.S. citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. TikTok has said none of this has ever happened.
The federal government and more than half the U.S. states, including Montana, have banned TikTok from being used on government-owned devices.
“The federal government has already determined that China is a foreign adversary. And the concerns with TikTok are well documented at both the state and federal level,” the brief said. The Montana law, “therefore, furthers the public interest because it protects the public from the harms inseparable from TikTok’s operation.”
Disallowing Montana’s regulation of TikTok would be like preventing the state from banning a cancer-causing radio “merely because that radio also transmitted protected speech,” the brief argues.
There are other applications people can use to express themselves and communicate with others, the state argues. The plaintiffs have said their greatest social media following is on TikTok.
TikTok has safeguards to moderate content and protect minors, and would not share information with China, the company has argued. But critics have pointed to China’s 2017 national intelligence law that compels companies to cooperate with the country’s governments for state intelligence work.
Montana’s law would prohibit 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. The penalties would not apply to users.
veryGood! (541)
Related
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Police say suspect in a Hawaii acid attack on a woman plotted with an inmate to carry out 2nd attack
- Mars Wrigley promotes chewing gum as tool to 'address the micro-stresses of everyday life'
- Former NFL coach Jon Gruden lands advisory role with football team in Italy
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Watch a tortoise in Florida cozy up for a selfie with a camera
- Massachusetts governor to pardon hundreds of thousands with marijuana convictions
- Vermont man pleads not guilty to killing couple after his arrest at grisly
- Small twin
- Biden heads to the Michigan county emerging as the swing state’s top bellwether
Ranking
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Meg Ryan Isn't Faking Her Love For Her Latest Red Carpet Look
- 500 pounds of pure snake: Massive python nest snagged in Southwest Florida
- C.J. Gardner-Johnson apologizes to Eagles fans for 'obnoxious' comment following reunion
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Group of Five head coaches leaving for assistant jobs is sign of college football landscape shift
- Michael Strahan Surprises Daughter Isabella With Visit From Her Favorite Celebrity Amid Cancer Battle
- Dozens of performers pull out of SXSW in protest of military affiliations, war in Gaza
Recommendation
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
Lionel Messi leaves Inter Miami's win with a leg injury, unlikely to play D.C. United
Two-thirds of women professionals think they're unfairly paid, study finds
Scott Peterson's lawyers ask for new DNA test in push to overturn Laci Peterson conviction
Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
Former NFL coach Jon Gruden lands advisory role with football team in Italy
Eugene Levy talks 'The Reluctant Traveler' Season 2, discovering family history
Student pilot tried to open Alaska Airlines plane cockpit multiple times mid-flight, complaint says