Montana TikTok Influencers Sue to Block Statewide Ban
Montana’s TikTok ban violates the First Amendment, and the state doesn’t have authority to enact a law attempting to advance U.S. national security interests, a group of TikTok influencers and users argued in a complaint Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-00056) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula.
Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed the bill into law Wednesday, making Montana the first state to ban the popular Chinese-owned social media app statewide. Many states have passed measures banning TikTok on state-owned devices and networks. Plaintiffs in the case are Montana-based TikTok users with hundreds of thousands of followers. The group filed its lawsuit against Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R), arguing for protection of free speech and their income earned through the app.
The law “creates a prior restraint on expression that violates the First Amendment, depriving Montanans of access to a forum that for many is a ‘principal source for knowing current events’ and ‘otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge,’” said the filing.
Davis Wright’s legal team argued in the complaint that Montana has “no authority to enact laws advancing what it believes should be the United States’ foreign policy or its national security interests, nor may Montana ban an entire forum for communication based on its perceptions that some speech shared through that forum, though protected by the First Amendment, is dangerous.” The state can “no more” ban residents from posting on TikTok than it can ban the Wall Street Journal because of “who owns it or the ideas it publishes,” the filing said.
Plaintiffs include Heather DiRocco, a former Marine Corps. sergeant, who lives in Bozeman and has more than 200,000 followers. Another plaintiff, Custer rancher Carly Ann Goddard, has more than 95,000 followers. Goddard has roughly tripled her family’s income through TikTok, the complaint said. She’s a stay-at-home mother, her husband is a rancher, and the family relies on the additional TikTok income for “survival,” the filing said. They're postponing having more children until the uncertainty about TikTok is resolved, the filing said. According to the complaint, DiRocco generates between 10% and 30% of her income from TikTok content, which she uses to help support three children. Samantha Alario, a Missoula plaintiff who owns a small swimwear business, has expanded her business’ reach by using the app, the filing said.
Knudsen in a statement called TikTok a “Chinese Communist Party spying tool,” and said he hopes other states follow Montana’s lead. “We expected a legal challenge and are fully prepared to defend the law,” he said. His office questioned how much involvement TikTok had in bringing the lawsuit. TikTok declined to comment.
Gianforte said in a statement: "While the Chinese Communist Party may try to hide their nefarious spying and collection of individuals' personal, private, sensitive information under the banner of our First Amendment, the governor has an obligation to protect Montanans and their individual privacy right, as guaranteed by the Montana Constitution, from the Chinese Communist Party's serious, grave threats."
The lawsuit asks the court to declare SB 419 unconstitutional and rule it’s preempted by executive orders and federal laws. It seeks attorneys fees and other relief the court “deems just and proper.”