TikTok sues Montana over ban on app

TikTok files a lawsuit against Montana after the state enacted a ban on the social media app. Yahoo Finance tech editor Dan Howley breaks it all down.

Video transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Let's get to some breaking news in the tech space. TikTok filing a lawsuit against the state of Montana after the state's governor signed a TikTok ban into law last week. Let's bring in Yahoo Finance's tech editor Dan Howley, who has the details. Dan, what specifically is TikTok alleging?

DAN HOWLEY: Yeah, so there's a number of things that TikTok is actually alleging here, essentially saying that this law just can't go forward. And let me just go through a few of them. They first point to the First Amendment saying that this violates the rights of users, as well as TikTok's parent company.

They also say federal exemption-- preemption, excuse me, stops Montana from trying to pass a law that has to do with national security. It also says that it violates the Constitution's commerce clause because it risks disrupting the flow of travel and commerce between states. And it also says that the bill is too broad and targets TikTok and not social media companies in general.

Now, in response to or as part of their statement, a TikTok spokesperson said, "We are challenging Montana's unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana. We believe our legal challenge will prevail based on an exceedingly strong set of precedents and facts." Now, I had previously spoken to a number of First Amendment experts who said that this law likely does violate the First Amendment. Some have said that this is just, as TikTok points, out too broad.

That there's no specific harms alleged, that the Montana Governor Gianforte's statement that the company is sending data to the Chinese government is unfounded. There's no evidence as such. We still haven't seen that evidence from the federal government or Montana here.

And so those are just some of the problems that they're running into. And also, experts that I spoke to had said, look, instead of doing something like this, there's an easier solution here rather than banning the app. Pass some kind of federal data privacy law and that would protect users' data without having to cut them off from TikTok.

AKIKO FUJITA: Yeah, it comes down to regulation. At least that's one of the arguments there. Dan Howley, thanks so much for that.