19 GOP AGs Ask 9th Circuit to Reverse Injunction Blocking Mont. TikTok Ban

Montana’s statewide TikTok ban is an “ordinary exercise” of the states’ police power to protect their citizens from deceptive and harmful business practices, said Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) and the Republican AGs of 18 other states in an amicus brief Saturday (docket 24-34) at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief supports the appeal of Montana AG Austin Knudsen (R) to reverse the district court’s Nov. 20 injunction that blocks him from enforcing SB-419 (see 2312010003).

SB-419 is “justified” because Montana “justly concluded” that TikTok engages in deceptive business practices that induce individuals “to share sensitive personal information that can be easily accessed by the Chinese Communist Party,” said the brief. The ban also is justified because TikTok’s platform “harms children in Montana,” it said.

Federal law doesn’t bar the states “from protecting their citizens from such conduct,” said the brief. The district court’s “erroneous decision” should be reversed because it “misapprehends” the nature of the problem that Montana and other states face, and because it “misapplies” the First Amendment, it said.

TikTok’s “hold” on users, particularly children, is “palpable,” said the brief. TikTok does more “than merely acquire user data in order to hook its users,” it said. Montana enacted SB-419 “to prohibit the use of a dangerous product unless that product were altered to remedy the concerns underlying the legislation,” it said.

The plaintiffs, including five individual TikTok users and TikTok itself, asked the district court to disregard TikTok’s “grave conduct” and preliminarily enjoin SB-419, said the brief. The district court “obliged,” holding that the plaintiffs had shown a likelihood of success on their free speech and foreign affairs field preemption claims, it said.

The district court also held that the plaintiffs demonstrated irreparable harm and that the balance of the equities weighed in their favor, said the brief. Because those conclusions were “erroneous,” the 9th Circuit should reverse, it said.

SB-419 “fits comfortably” within the “tradition” of states enforcing their police power to protect their citizens from harm, said the brief. It’s a law that regulates TikTok’s operations in Montana “to protect Montanans’ privacy from a foreign power and their health from a potentially dangerous product,” it said: “Nothing in the district court’s flawed analysis undermines this crucial reality.”