Montana can’t ban Tiktok

The state does not have the power or authority to decide on the ban. It also violates the rights of users and businesses under the Constitution, Justice Donald Molloy said in a preliminary decision.

But the question of banning or not has not yet been resolved and will be addressed further in the legal system. But until that happens, the Republican-governed state cannot impose the ban.

Otherwise, Montana would have been the first US state to stop the application. A number of states and the US government have already banned employees from downloading the app on state- or government-owned cell phones and computers.

But Montana wants to go further and impose a complete ban. This was justified on the basis that China would be able to obtain information about users because the owner company, Bytedance, is based in Beijing. Chinese law stipulates that the government has the right to request information from companies like Tiktok.

The company’s lawyers claim that the state’s actions are a complete overreaction and an attempt to introduce their own kind of foreign policy. This is based on unfounded fears, according to the company, that Tiktok will be obligated to hand over data to the Chinese government.