Montana appeals TikTok ban, saying consumer protection outweighs First Amendment worries

The State of Montana filed its opening brief with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday in its appeal of a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state from enforcing its ban on TikTok, contending that the state’s consumer protection interests outweigh First Amendment concerns that the lower court used as a partial basis to block the law.

The state’s 71-page appeal of a federal district court’s order from last year marks the first step toward having a final court decision on whether states are able to ban TikTok, or other social media companies, as the federal government scrutinizes the China-based company and whether it is harvesting the data of Americans and sharing it with the government of a foreign adversary.

U.S. District Court of Montana Judge Donald Molloy in November issued the injunction, saying the plaintiffs – a group of content creators and TikTok itself – made better arguments than the state and were likely to prevail in their contention that Senate Bill 419 violates the First Amendment and both the Supremacy and Commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution.