“We don’t imagine this will not be challenged“,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen He told the New York Times In a recent interview. “I think this is the next frontier in First Amendment jurisprudence that will likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court. And I think that’s probably where it’s headed.”
Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokeswoman, criticized the bill’s supporters for not having a “meaningful plan to enact” what she described as “an attempt to censor American votes.”
“We will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” Oberwetter told BuzzFeed News.
For years, US policymakers and lawmakers have scrutinized TikTok’s data-sharing and privacy practices over concerns about Chinese government control of its parent company, ByteDance. Last year, the social media company confirmed a sensational report by BuzzFeed News that engineers in Beijing had accessed US users’ data.
In a recent hearing, members of Congress grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on these issues as they considered legislation that would ban the platform and give the government the power to ban technologies deemed a national security risk. As did the Biden administration It is said ByteDance has demanded the sale of TikTok and He threatened Comprehensive ban on the application if it does not comply. So far, the Chinese government has said it will oppose forced sales.
Clarissa Jean Lim contributed to this story.