Mont. TikTok Ban Meets 'Metrics of Good Governance': Digital Progress Institute

Preventing TikTok from “engaging in espionage” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party is “fundamental” to the Digital Progress Institute’s core “principles,” said the institute’s unopposed motion for leave Wednesday (docket 9:23-cv-00061) in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula to file an amicus brief in opposition to a preliminary injunction that would block enforcement of SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, when it takes effect Jan. 1 (see 2306290041). The institute thinks SB-419 meets all the “metrics of good governance,” said its motion. Montana’s TikTok ban is “incremental in scope” and it’s bipartisan, plus it also takes a “holistic approach” to internet regulation when addressing cybersecurity, it said. SB-419 also is “critical to the promise of privacy for all,” it said. The institute offers a “unique perspective” on Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, said its motion. The parties will argue on the implications of SB-419 for Montana and its citizens, it said. But the institute can provide the court with “a deeper understanding on how Montana’s law fits into the broader national conversation regarding the constitutionality of a TikTok ban and the harms TikTok inflicts on our national security,” it said. The institute can also give the court insights on how “an adverse ruling” in the case, granting the preliminary injunction to block enforcement of SB-419, can “detrimentally impact” the efforts of the Biden administration and Congress “to protect our communications networks from foreign adversaries leveraging technologies like TikTok,” it said.