{"id":1411,"date":"2023-10-15T11:35:06","date_gmt":"2023-10-15T11:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/business\/federal-judge-rips-into-montanas-statewide-tiktok-ban\/"},"modified":"2023-10-15T11:35:06","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T11:35:06","slug":"federal-judge-rips-into-montanas-statewide-tiktok-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation appears driven by \u201cpaternalistic\u201d views of social media users and suggesting lawmakers could have taken many steps short of an attempted ban to achieve their goals.\n <\/p>\n

\n The sharp criticism of Montana\u2019s legislature and attorney general comes as TikTok and a group of content creators on the platform have sought a ruling temporarily blocking the law.\n <\/p>\n

\n The legal battle is closely watched because it is viewed as a bellwether for TikTok\u2019s future in the United States, where dozens of states and the US government have already banned the app on official devices but have so far refrained from blocking the app on private devices. (TikTok declined to comment on the hearing.)\n <\/p>\n

\n Montana became the first state to authorize a complete ban on TikTok when lawmakers passed SB419 in April and Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill in May, prompting an immediate legal challenge hours later.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Thursday\u2019s hearing to consider a possible temporary injunction, District Judge Donald Molloy repeatedly challenged arguments and analogies offered by Montana Solicitor General Christian Corrigan, at one point faulting Corrigan for providing \u201cnot a very good analogy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Corrigan argued that Montana\u2019s TikTok ban is about protecting residents from data security abuses by TikTok. The text of the legislation prohibits TikTok from offering services within Montana and penalizes app store operators from providing the app for download; each offense carries a potential civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation, per day.\n <\/p>\n

\n Citing public reports about TikTok\u2019s links to China through its parent company, ByteDance, Corrigan said lawmakers had been responding to a widespread concern about possible Chinese surveillance of US users.\n <\/p>\n

\n US officials have said that Chinese government influence over ByteDance could potentially lead to US TikTok users\u2019 data being exposed to Beijing \u2014 which might facilitate spying, blackmail or other espionage activity.\n <\/p>\n

\n Attorneys for TikTok and the content creators, however, argued that the public reports alone do not amount to sufficient evidence to justify a total ban on TikTok, and added that TikTok submitted sworn declarations in the case committing that the company has not shared US users\u2019 data with China.\n <\/p>\n

\n Molloy grilled both sides repeatedly about the standard of evidence lawmakers should have been required to meet before passing legislation enacting the ban.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe state doesn\u2019t need to form a blue-ribbon commission to show that fire is dangerous or water is wet,\u201d Corrigan replied.\n <\/p>\n

\n Alexander Berengaut, an attorney for TikTok, responded by quoting Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen\u2019s own past words about the ban that have characterized TikTok as an alleged agent of China.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe real purpose of the statute is to declare a foreign policy for the state of Montana,\u201d Berengaut said, arguing the state law conflicts with the federal government\u2019s constitutional role as the leader on matters of foreign affairs.\n <\/p>\n

\n Molloy appeared to side with Berengaut on the issue, suggesting that Knudsen\u2019s rhetoric was \u201ctotally inconsistent\u201d with the state\u2019s current legal defense.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt seems like everything the attorney general argued at hearings and in public statements are directed to, \u2018We are going to teach China a lesson,\u2019 not \u2018We are going to protect people,\u201d Molloy told Corrigan.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ambika Kumar, an attorney representing the group of TikTok creators, said SB419 tramples on the First Amendment rights of consumers and of TikTok itself.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOur position is that the state has gone completely overboard,\u201d Kumar told the court. \u201cIt\u2019s not even close as to whether they regulated too much, and that\u2019s underscored by the alternatives that they had that they appear not to have even considered.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Later in the hearing, Malloy appeared to agree with that view while questioning Corrigan.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt seems to me there are a number of things that a legislature might have or could have done,\u201d he told Corrigan. \u201cFor instance, instead of banning TikTok, regulate what data they could obtain; create some sort of criminal statute that if they obtained [data] illegally or against the will of the users, they could get prosecuted criminally \u2026 [or] create a civil remedy\u201d for individuals.\n <\/p>\n

\n Knudsen could have even gone on television to issue public service announcements warning Montanans not to use TikTok, Malloy suggested.\n <\/p>\n

\n Malloy pressured Corrigan to articulate some sort of limiting principle on the ban and appeared concerned that Montana stands alone in issuing a flat prohibition on TikTok.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cDoesn\u2019t that seem a little strange?\u201d he said, comparing the situation to a marching band where one player is marching out of step.\n <\/p>\n

\n Corrigan argued that Montana is a leading state on a significant issue, and that if it were to win the case, other states could follow suit.\n <\/p>\n

\n Elsewhere in the hearing, Corrigan compared preventing Montanans from handing their personal data to TikTok to barring a specific model of cell phone from being sold within a state due to evidence showing the cell phone model causes cancer or explodes on users.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWell, I think that\u2019s not a very good analogy, but that\u2019s your argument,\u201d Malloy said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cYour argument just confuses me,\u201d Malloy continued. \u201cThat\u2019s sort of a paternalistic argument that, you know, [consumers] don\u2019t know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Malloy vowed to issue a ruling on a possible temporary injunction \u201cas quickly as I can.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation appears driven by \u201cpaternalistic\u201d views of social media users and suggesting lawmakers could have taken many steps short of an attempted ban to achieve their goals. The sharp criticism of Montana\u2019s legislature and attorney general comes as TikTok and a group of content creators on the platform have sought a ruling temporarily blocking the law. The legal battle is closely watched because it is viewed as a bellwether for TikTok\u2019s future in the United<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ConnectWithFund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/231012142512-tiktok-phone-app-0309-restricted.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411\",\"name\":\"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9344cb2de07361e178f5c834d2167e52\"},\"description\":\"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/\",\"name\":\"FinMarkPros\",\"description\":\"Latest Finance News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9344cb2de07361e178f5c834d2167e52\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3740b286006c76c86a45c4879850da000667bb6f5bbe053edd4a416d2cc4fb80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3740b286006c76c86a45c4879850da000667bb6f5bbe053edd4a416d2cc4fb80?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund","description":"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund","og_description":"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation","og_url":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411","og_site_name":"ConnectWithFund","article_published_time":"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/231012142512-tiktok-phone-app-0309-restricted.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411","url":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411","name":"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban | ConnectWithFund","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-15T11:35:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9344cb2de07361e178f5c834d2167e52"},"description":"A Montana federal judge on Thursday tore into a contested state law that bans TikTok from all personal devices, saying in a hearing that the legislation","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?p=1411#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Federal judge rips into Montana\u2019s statewide TikTok ban"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/","name":"FinMarkPros","description":"Latest Finance News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9344cb2de07361e178f5c834d2167e52","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3740b286006c76c86a45c4879850da000667bb6f5bbe053edd4a416d2cc4fb80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3740b286006c76c86a45c4879850da000667bb6f5bbe053edd4a416d2cc4fb80?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/connectwithfund.com"],"url":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1413,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1411\/revisions\/1413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connectwithfund.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}