老澳门开奖结果 Slams Montana's Unconstitutional TikTok Ban as Governor Signs Law
HELENA 鈥 Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed an unconstitutional statewide TikTok ban into law today, over the objections of the 老澳门开奖结果, 老澳门开奖结果 of Montana, and other free-speech organizations.
鈥淲ith this ban, Governor Gianforte and the Montana legislature have trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,鈥 said Keegan Medrano, policy director at the 老澳门开奖结果 of Montana. 鈥淲e will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.鈥
The will prohibit TikTok from operating in the state, and will also prohibit app stores from allowing users in Montana to download the TikTok app. If companies allow users to download the app, they鈥檒l initially be fined $10,000, and then another $10,000 for every day the violation continues. If the courts don鈥檛 act, the ban will go into effect on January 1, 2024.
As the 老澳门开奖结果 and half a dozen free speech and civil liberties organizations explained in a letter sent to the Montana House of Representatives in April, this legislation flouts the First Amendment. The government cannot impose a total ban on a communications platform like TikTok unless it is necessary to prevent extremely serious, immediate harm to national security. But there鈥檚 no public evidence of harm that would meet the high bar set by the U.S. and Montana Constitutions, and a total ban would not be the only option for addressing such harm if it did exist.
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