A federal judge in Montana has invalidated a law that would have seen a state-wide ban on TikTok beginning on Jan. 1, 2024.The ruling represents a defeat for Montana, whose Governor Greg Gianforte signed into law the SB 419 bill in May, stating it would support "our shared goal to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance."The Montana Attorney General expressed the ruling as "a temporary issue as of now."
A federal judge in Montana issued a preliminary ruling Thursday blocking a law that would have resulted in a state-wide ban of TikTok starting on Jan. 1, 2024. Judge Donald Molloy said in a legal filing the state of Montana failed to prove how the original SB 419 bill would be "constitutionally permissible". The ruling is a setback for the state and its Governor Greg Gianforte who had signed the SB 419 bill into law and pitched it as helping "our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance." Judge Molloy, in the filing, indicated that the legislature and Attorney General had a greater interest in targeting China's role in TikTok than in protecting the consumers by noting that a separate law was enacted to protect the digital data and privacy. A spokesperson for TikTok shared that the company was "pleased the judge rejected this unconstitutional law" and that hundreds of thousands of Montanans can continue to enjoy the service. The Montana Attorney General's office described the ruling as a "preliminary matter at this point" and added that the judge's analysis may change as the case progresses. Before the judge's ruling, Montana was set to become the first U.S. state to ban the popular video and social media app owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance. ByteDance had sued the state to prevent the ban. Later, U.S. lawmakers had raised questions during a hearing about the relationship between Chinese government and ByteDance over concerns of data of U.S. citizens being accessed. In response, TikTok had announced its "Project Texas" initiative to ensure that the data of U.S. citizens remains in the country with the help of enterprise tech giant Oracle.
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