A group of 18 state attorneys general and two separate organizations recently filed amicus briefs in support of Montana’s law banning TikTok from operating in the state. The law was written  by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen following documented concerns over the app’s  data-harvesting and access to that data granted to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.

The new law requires TikTok to stop operating in Montana and prohibits mobile application stores from making TikTok available starting on January 1, 2024. Shortly after Governor Greg Gianforte signed SB 419 into law, the company and a group of users it funded sued and requested a preliminary injunction. The three groups  joined Attorney General Knudsen in urging the court to deny the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction due to the adverse impact on citizens’ privacy and data security.

The coalition of 18 states argues that SB 419 falls within the States’ historic police powers under the principle of federalism that “each State may make its own reasoned judgment about what conduct is permitted or proscribed within its borders,” and by banning TikTok’s operation in the state, Montana is protecting its citizens’ privacy from TikTok and the threat of the CCP’s data-harvesting practices.

“SB 419 is justified, and Plaintiffs’ motions for a preliminary injunction should be denied, because TikTok intentionally engages in deceptive business practices which induce individuals to share sensitive personal information that can be easily accessed by the Chinese Communist Party and because TikTok’s platform harms children in Montana and Amici States. Federal law does not prohibit the States from protecting their citizens from such conduct,” the attorneys general wrote in the brief. “The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the political party with unchallenged control of the government of the People’s Republic of China, exercises significant influence over ByteDance. Allowing TikTok to operate in Montana without severing its ties to the CCP exposes Montanan consumers to the risk of the CCP accessing and exploiting their data.”