Is Montana Banning TikTok A Violation Of Free Speech?

And interesting debate

Critics Say Montana’s TikTok Ban Is a Violation of Free Speech. Here’s What to Know

On Wednesday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a first-of-its kind law to ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in the state. The law, which is set to go into effect in January 2024, quickly came under fire for violation of free speech laws.

In a statement, Gianforte’s office called the law an attempt to “protect Montanans’ personal and private data from being harvested by the Chinese Communist party.” Tech and legal experts say that how the ban is handled in the coming months could set a precedent for how TikTok, which has over 150 million users in the U.S., is regulated across the nation, especially as states and federal legislatures look towards restricting the platform’s reach. (big snip)

A lawsuit against the ban seems likely to come. Keegan Medrano, policy director at the ACLU of Montana, said in a May 17th statement that the Montana legislature has “trampled” on free speech. “We will never trade our First Amendment rights for cheap political points.”

In a statement published on Twitter Wednesday evening, TikTok said, “We want to reassure Montanans that they can continue using TikTok to express themselves, earn a living, and find community as we continue working to defend the rights of our users inside and outside of Montana.” TikTok did not return TIME’s request for comment. (snip)

Any legal challenge might closely resemble the last time a TikTok ban was attempted. In 2020, courts blocked Trump’s executive order to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat, ruling that the Trump administration hadn’t demonstrated enough of a security risk to limit users’ speech.

Free speech or not? The platform is a company, and people have plenty of ways to speak (if we wanted to use the leftist argument about guns, we could say there was no Internet when the Bill of Rights was passed. Not a good argument, but, amusing). But, should government ban it? IMO, no, except on government property. No one should be using Tiktok on their government owned tablets, computers, and phones. The people are being forced to pay for these, and they should be used for business, not stupid videos where information ends up in the hands of the Chinese government. But, no ban for private citizens. If they are dumb enough to use it, let them. That’s their responsibility and problem.

But, what about Tiktok enabling users to suggest committing criminal acts?

Weird TikTok trend which sees users walk into strangers’ homes and film them is slammed

Social media users were left open-mouthed after watching footage of a teenager and his friends wandering into a person’s home uninvited. The TikTok video, entitled ‘Walking into random houses’, showed the three youngsters approaching a London townhouse and passing into the property.

A female occupant, who is tidying up outside the entrance of the residence, could be heard asking the teenagers “what are you doing?” as they strode past her into the building.

She called her partner for help, who briefly left their children to apprehend the intruders, one of which had made themselves comfortable on the sofa.

They could be charged with multiple felonies, and, it’s also a great way to get shot. There are tons of “challenges” on TikTok which are illegal, borderline illegal, and just downright dangerous, and the platform does almost nothing to scrub these.

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