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NetChoice, a national trade association that includes major tech
platforms, and Chamber of Progress, a tech-industry coalition,
said in a joint court filing that "Montana's effort to cut
Montanans off from the global network of TikTok users ignores
and undermines the structure, design, and purpose of the
internet."
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, filed a
suit in May seeking to block the first-of-its-kind U.S. state
ban, arguing it violates the First Amendment free speech rights
of the company and users.
A hearing on TikTok's request for a preliminary injunction is
set for Oct. 12.
TikTok, which is used by more than 150 million Americans, has
faced growing calls from U.S. lawmakers for a nationwide ban
over concerns about possible Chinese government influence.
TikTok says it "has not shared, and would not share, U.S. user
data with the Chinese government, and has taken substantial
measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok users."
The tech groups said "if allowed to take effect, the ban will
usher in a balkanized internet where information
available to users becomes regionally divided based on local
politicians’ whims or preferences." They added "the internet,
as a whole, will become fragmented and its value to humanity
diminished."
Montana could impose fines of $10,000 for each violation by
TikTok. The law does not impose penalties on individual TikTok
users.
TikTok estimates 380,000 people in Montana use the video
service, or more than a third of the state's 1.1 million people.
Former President Donald Trump in 2020 sought to bar new
downloads of TikTok but a series of court decisions blocked the
ban from taking effect.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Muralikumar
Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs)
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