CDT Joins Free Speech Orgs in Urging Montana Legislature to Reject TikTok Ban Bill
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) joined a letter, alongside the ACLU and other free speech and civil liberties organizations, urging the Montana legislature to reject a bill that would ban TikTok in the state. The letter argues that the bill would unjustly cut Montanans off from a platform where they speak out and exchange ideas everyday, and it would set an alarming precedent for excessive government control over how Montanans use the internet.
Although there are legitimate concerns about the Chinese government’s gaining access to Americans’ data through TikTok, banning the app violates the First Amendment because there is no public evidence that TikTok’s purported harms rise to the high level required by the constitution before the app could be banned, or that a ban is the only way to address such harm if it did exist.
CDT’s Caitlin Vogus, in a press release announcing the letter:
“Banning TikTok in Montana would raise serious First Amendment concerns and is not the appropriate way to protect the privacy of user’s data or respond to content on the app that lawmakers disapprove of,” said Caitlin Vogus, deputy director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “We urge the Montana legislature not to take this dangerous step toward limiting Montanans’ ability to speak freely and receive information online.”
