A federal judge recently expressed skepticism and confusion over the Montana government’s decision to impose a statewide ban of TikTok Inc.’s short-video social media platform, according to coverage of a Thursday hearing that examined the company’s bid to halt the ban pending the progress of its legal challenge. Montana became the first state to seek a statewide ban of the app.
During the hearing, Judge Donald W. Molloy asked state Solicitor General Christian Corrigan why more targeted attempts to regulate Chinese government’s access to American users’ data on Beijing-based ByteDance Inc.’s platform hadn’t been explored instead of a complete ban. Moreover, TikTok and five U.S. content creators who sued Montana contended that the law is too broad and intrudes federal laws.
Molloy posed several questions about potential alternative solutions to China’s access to TikTok data and described the state’s argument as “paternalistic.” He also flagged inconsistencies between Corrigan’s courtroom position and public statements on the law made by state officials.
The contentious legislation, which aims to protect consumer privacy, was passed earlier this year and designed to come into force on January 1, 2024, with daily penalties of up to $10,000 each for TikTok and app stores if the app remains available for download in Montana. This is the sole legal case arising from TikTok’s statewide prohibition, but the social media giant is also engaged in similar litigations in Indiana and Utah.
For more information, refer to the full Bloomberg report.