A federal district judge expressed doubts at a hearing in Missoula on Thursday that Montana became the first state in the country to ban TikTok. TikTok and several platform creators sued Montana earlier this year, saying the state's ban was unconstitutional and violated the company's and users' free speech rights.
Throughout Thursday's hearing, plaintiffs' attorneys argued that Montana's ban was "overbroad," while Montana's defense attorneys argued that the ban was necessary to protect Montana residents' online privacy.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy questioned the state's evidence supporting its national security concerns and whether the state should decide whether users share data with the apps.
Molloy said: "The information TikTok requires users to provide is the user's consent and the user voluntarily provides TikTok. Your argument confuses me."
Montana Deputy Attorney General Christian Corrigan believes that because of the security risks posed by the app's Chinese owner ByteDance, there is no other way to protect the safety of Montanans other than a "blanket ban."
Molloy found a lack of supporting evidence and asked Corrigan if the state had discovered that TikTok had provided any documents during the discovery process to support its national security concerns. After criticizing the discovery process, Corrigan said: "We didn't."
TikTok, owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, has repeatedly said it has never shared any U.S. data with Chinese regulators. Still, the U.S. government and more than half of the U.S. states have taken action to ban the app from government devices. Some state and federal lawmakers have proposed further banning the app from use on citizens' private phones.
Molloy noted that Montana is the first and only state in the country to approve such a ban. "Do you think this is a little weird?" Molloy asked Corrigan.
If not blocked by a court, the ban is expected to go into effect next year, leaving Montana residents completely unable to download TikTok.
Molloy said he would rule on the preliminary injunction as soon as possible.