San Francisco, US

TikTok on Monday (May 22) filed a suit in the US federal court after the state of Montana decided to implement an overall ban on the video-sharing app. 

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TikTok argued in the suit that the unprecedented ban, which is set to start in 2024, violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech. 

TikTok said in the court filing: "We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana." 

As quoted by news agency AFP, a TikTok spokesperson said: "We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts." 

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Greg Gianforte, who is the governor of Montana, signed the unprecedented prohibition into law on May 17. Gianforte said on Twitter that he endorsed the ban in order to "protect Montanans' personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party." 

"The state has enacted these extraordinary and unprecedented measures based on nothing more than unfounded speculation," TikTok contended in its lawsuit. 

WATCH | TikTok users file lawsuit to block Montana ban 

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Users also file suit 

Five TikTok users filed their own lawsuit last week, requesting that a federal court overturn Montana's prohibition on the app, claiming that it violates their free speech rights. 

Both lawsuits filed against Montana contend that the state is attempting to exercise national security powers that only the federal government possesses while also infringing free speech rights.

TikTok has asked the federal court to declare Montana's prohibition on its app illegal and to prevent the state from enforcing it. The ban  would take effect on January 1 and the company claims that the ban violates the First Amendment rights of the company and users. 

The lawsuit filed by TikTok users contends: "Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or the ideas it publishes." 

For the unversed, TikTok is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, and it has been accused by a wide range of US politicians of being controlled by the Chinese government and used for spying by Beijing, something the company denies. 

The video-sharing app is used by more than 150 million Americans and the company said that it has hundreds of thousands of active users in Montana, which has a total of about 1.1 million residents. 

News agencies have reported that Montana could impose fines of $10,000 for each violation by TikTok and additional fines of $10,000 per day if it violates the ban. The law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok users. It is not clear how Montana would enforce a TikTok ban.

(With inputs from agencies) 

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