TikTok Sues Montana to Block First Statewide Ban of App

  • Company rebukes state’s concerns over platform’s ties to China
  • State’s AG calls TikTok ‘Chinese Communist Party spying tool’

A TikTok advertisement in Washington, DC.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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TikTok Inc. sued Montana over the first statewide ban of the popular app, saying the state has trampled free-speech rights based on a misguided view that Chinese ownership of the platform poses a national security threat to the US.

The state’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, last week signed a measure that will prohibit the app’s download by the general public beginning next year.