TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the ban in the US state of Montana

Video platform TikTok has gone to court against its ban in the US state of Montana. He complains that the ban violates the right to freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution.

TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the first outright ban on its video platform in the US. Representatives of the site, owned by Chinese company Byte Dance, argued that a similar law in the US state of Montana violated constitutional freedoms and was based on “baseless speculation” that the Chinese government could access US users’ data.

TikTok has not, and has not, shared US data with the Chinese government, the company said. There are measures in place to protect the privacy of TikTok users and ensure their safety. All user data generated in the US will be stored there.

TikTok users complained last week

Last week, five Montana users of the app filed a lawsuit citing similar arguments. Among other things, they said, Montana lacked authority to decide matters of national security. Both lawsuits were filed in federal court in Missoula.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law last Wednesday, and the lawsuit was filed in court hours later. This law will come into effect from January 1.

Gianforte explained that he wanted to protect “the personal and private information of the people of Montana from the Chinese Communist Party.” Violation of the law carries a fine of $10,000 per day.

More than a billion users worldwide

Many western states have banned public sector employees from using TikTok on work devices. In India, TikTok is completely blocked due to privacy concerns. The Chinese government has refused to force Chinese companies to hand over personal user data collected overseas.

With over a billion users worldwide, TikTok is especially popular with the younger generation. Video consumption has long lagged in terms of time spent using large networks like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.