(Bloomberg) -- Montana's ban of TikTok was blocked by a federal judge in a closely watched challenge to the first statewide measure prohibiting the general public from using the wildly popular app.
TikTok argued that the ban, which aimed to bar residents from downloading the app beginning next year, would trample free-speech rights based on a misguided view that Chinese ownership of the platform poses a national security threat.
With a law enacted in May, Montana became the first state to completely bar TikTok's operations after targeted bans focusing on government devices and networks cascaded across the country last year. The European Union, the UK, Canada and a handful of other nations have imposed similar restrictions.
The bans pit concerns about privacy and national security against personal freedoms. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that two-thirds of American teens were using TikTok every day, with 16% saying they were on the platform almost constantly.
Thursday's ruling halts the Montana measure — known as SB 419 — from taking effect Jan. 1 while the legal challenge plays out.
“Despite the state's attempt to defend SB 419 as a consumer protection bill, the current record leaves little doubt that Montana's legislature and Attorney General were more interested in targeting China's ostensible role in TikTok than with protecting Montana consumers,” US District Judge Donald Molloy wrote.
A lawyer arguing for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said during an October hearing that the state had provided ample evidence of the need to ban TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance Ltd.
Knudsen's office also argued it was illogical for TikTok to argue that Montana lacks evidence of its link to China, and to assert that the state's ban is pre-empted because the company has been negotiating with the federal government over China-related national security concerns.
The company's legal challenge to the ban followed a suit filed by a group of TikTok content creators who said the Montana law violates the Constitution's First Amendment and will disrupt their livelihoods.
TikTok and representatives of the Montana Attorney General's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Updates with excerpt from ruling, background on dispute.)
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