TikTok is suing the state of Montana regarding a controversial new law that will ban the application in the state next year.

TikTok’s lawsuit comes just days after a group of TikTok creators opened up a similar lawsuit that would ban the passage of the law.

Last week, Montana’s Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill that would ban the viral short-form video social media platform from operating “within the territorial jurisdiction of Montana”.

The law would also force mobile application store operators to make the application unavailable for download in the state.

In a statement on Monday, a TikTok spokesperson announce that the China-owned social media platform is “challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana”.

The separate suit filed by TikTok creators via law firm Davis Wright Tremaine claimed that the bill banning the application is unconstitutional and an infringement on their right to speech.

“Montana has no authority to enact laws… (that) ban an entire forum for communication-based on its perceptions that some speech shared through that forum, though protected by the First Amendment,” the lawsuit argues.

“Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok than it could ban the Wall Street Journal because of who owns it or the ideas it publishes”.

Will US Judges Block the Montana TikTok Ban?

It will now be up to the US judiciary system to see whether the recently enacted Montana TikTok ban will go into force next year or not.

The battle over the Montana ban will mark an important milestone for TikTok’s efforts to remain a social media force in the US.

That’s because Montana is the first state to pass a law outright banning the app.

But TikTok may have the US judiciary system on its side.

An executive order signed by former President Donald Trump attempting to ban TikTok and other Chinese apps like WeChat over national security concerns was blocked by federal judges back in 2020.

In fact, the very same law firm representing TikTok creators (Davis Wright Tremaine) was actually a chief player in that suit, which came out victorious in securing a temporary halt to the executive order.

President Joe Biden later revoked the order.

TikTok creators will be hoping that history repeats itself and the Montana ban gets halted in its tracks, before other TikTok sceptical states start getting any ideas.

But the battle to save TikTok in the US will be long and as politicians from across both sides of the aisle become increasingly worried about the application.

Just two months ago, US Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner introduced a bill to ban the app nationwide.

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