HELENA — A federal judge in Missoula has put on a Montana law banning the app TikTok in the state on hold, while a lawsuit challenging the ban goes forward.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction, preventing Senate Bill 419 from going into effect as scheduled on Jan. 1. In his order, Molloy said plaintiffs – including TikTok and a group of Montana-based content creators who use the app – had shown a likelihood of success on the merits of their challenge to the law.
“While there may be a public interest in protecting Montana consumers, the State has not shown how this TikTok bill does that,” he wrote. “Instead, SB 419 oversteps state power and infringes on the Constitutional rights of users and businesses.”
Molloy said the law wasn’t narrowly tailored enough to meet the required level of scrutiny – saying “the Legislature used an axe to solve its professed concerns when it should have used a constitutional scalpel.”
The ruling comes more than a month after Molloy held a hearing on the case (https://www.ktvh.com/news/federal-judge-holds-hearing-on-montana-tiktok-ban-lawsuit) in Missoula.
Read the Full ruling from Judge Donald W. Molloy:
SB 419 says TikTok can’t operate in Montana, and that app stores can’t offer it for download within the state’s borders. It institutes penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation, with another $10,000 each day a violation continues. Individual users would not face penalties.
Supporters of the law, including Attorney General Austin Knudsen, cited concerns that the app might expose Montanans’ data to China. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a company headquartered in China. In recent months, Congress has probed claims that officials from the Chinese Communist Party might be able to access information on U.S. users. TikTok has denied any claims that its app puts data at risk.
Molloy said in his order that the law’s emphasis on a foreign policy issue was its “Achilles’ heel” and that the state didn’t have an important government interest in regulating foreign affairs.
“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,” Molloy said. “This is especially apparent in that the same legislature enacted an entirely separate law that purports to broadly protect consumers’ digital data and privacy.”
Emilee Cantrell, a spokesperson for Attorney General Austin Knudsen, responded to the ruling in a statement Thursday.
“This is a preliminary matter at this point,” she said. “The judge indicated several times that the analysis could change as the case proceeds and the State has the opportunity to present a full factual record. We look forward to presenting the complete legal argument to defend the law that protects Montanans from the Chinese Communist Party obtaining and using their data.”
This story has been updated. Original post below:
A federal judge has put on hold a Montana law that would ban TikTok from operating in the state while the case is being litigated.
On Thursday, Judge Donald W. Molloy for the United States District Court of Montana placed a preliminary injunction on the enactment of Senate Bill 419. Molloy in his ruling stated as reasoning that a “fundamental constitutional violation is likely.”
Montana was the first state in the nation to pass a law that would ban TikTok from operating in state boundaries. The law was set to take effect on January 1.
The new law says TikTok can’t operate in Montana, and that app stores can’t offer it for download within the state’s borders. It includes penalties of up to $10,000 for each violation, with another $10,000 each day a violation continues. Individual users would not face penalties.
Lawmakers who supported the bill said part of the reason for banning the app was because TikTok's access to user data presented a privacy risk to users, specifically from China and from TikTok's parent company ByteDance.
SB 419 was challenged by TikTok and a group of Montana content creators, arguing that the ban represents a violation of users' First Amendment rights. TikTok also took issue with Montana's national security justifications for passing the law.
TikTok’s attorneys said the app has hundreds of thousands of users in Montana. The company also argued Montana is restricting interstate commerce and intruding into areas of foreign policy that should be the exclusive role of the federal government.
The state argued Montana is in line with dozens of other states and federal leaders from both parties who’ve expressed concerns about data privacy on TikTok. They said the ban isn’t limiting free expression because it only stops one pathway for users.
