The news: Montana's new TikTok ban is already facing legal opposition from TikTok creators, who have sued the state in an attempt to block the law. Background: On Wednesday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill that makes it illegal for TikTok to operate in the state. The ban, set to take effect in January, prohibits app stores from offering TikTok to residents, making it the first state to fully ban the app. What's new: Less than a day after the law was signed, a group of five TikTok users filed a lawsuit, arguing that the ban infringed on their First Amendment rights and exceeded Montana's legal authority as a state. The bigger picture: The lawsuit will be closely monitored across the country, particularly as some federal lawmakers continue to weigh a nationwide TikTok ban. The Biden administration has called for TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a potential ban due to data privacy, content moderation, and national security concerns. By law, China-based ByteDance is obligated to provide U.S. user data to Beijing, although it has denied ever doing so. What the numbers say: A Pew Research Center survey shows that more Americans support banning TikTok than oppose it. Support for a ban is higher among Republicans (60%) compared to Democrats (43%), while people who use TikTok are much more likely to oppose a ban than non-users.
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