Five TikTok users who also create content posted on the short video app filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Montana late Wednesday searching for to block a recent statewide ban on the Chinese platform.
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill Wednesday banning TikTok in the state starting January 1.
Five users are searching for to block the law, making it unimaginable for Alphabet, Google and Apple app stores to offer TikTok in the state.
Greater than 150 million Americans use video apps.
The lawsuit named Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.
TikTok users say the state seeks to “exercise national security powers that Montana doesn’t have and prohibit speech that Montana cannot suppress.”
The lawsuit adds that users consider the law violates their First Amendment rights.
Knudsen didn’t immediately comment.
“Montana can no more ban its residents from watching or posting on TikTok than it could actually ban the Wall Street Journal based on who owns it or the ideas it publishes,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit is attributed to Justice Donald Molloy, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 1995.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, said the Montana ban “violates the First Amendment rights of Montana residents by unlawfully banning TikTok” and said it will “proceed to work to defend the rights of our users in Montana and beyond.” “
TikTok has faced increasing calls from US lawmakers and government officials to ban the app nationwide due to concerns in regards to the Chinese government’s potential influence on the platform.
Gianforte, a Republican, said the bill would strengthen “our collective priority of protecting Montans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance.”
TikTok has repeatedly denied ever sharing data with the Chinese government and said the corporate wouldn’t achieve this if asked.
Montana, which has a population of just over 1 million people, said TikTok may very well be fined for every violation and extra fines of $10,000 a day if it violates the ban.
The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the bill as “unconstitutional.”
Former President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban recent TikTok and WeChat downloads under an order from the Department of Commerce in 2020 was blocked by multiple courts and never succeeded.