The social media app, TikTok, has been given another reprieve in the U.S. after a district judge blocked Montana's effort to ban the app for all users in the state.

In May, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed into law measures that would outright ban TikTok from doing business in the state, protecting residents from China's alleged intelligence gathering. There isn't conclusive evidence that TikTok is, or that it has been involved in, such intel gathering. But Gianforte chose to go to full ban, taking a step beyond similar executive orders banning government-issued devices from accessing the Chinese app issued across a number of other regions.
Asked at the time to clarify why he chose a total ban over an advisory, Gianforte's spokesperson explained:

It's well documented that the Chinese Communist Party has spied on Americans through TikTok, violating their privacy and collecting individual, private, and sensitive data about users. Today Montana takes the most significant step any state has taken to protect the private data and sensitive personal information of Montanans from being reaped by the Chinese Communist Party.

The ban, responded by a coalition of TikTok users, however, violates their first amendment rights, which is why this is the latest court challenge and District Court Judge Donald Molloy's decision to put a halt to Montana's ban effort.
TikTok's ban in Montana was due to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2024.

In her opinion issuing the preliminary injunction against Montana from enforcing a full ban on the app, Molloy said Montana's legislation "oversteps state power" and does indeed run afoul of the Constitution.

Molloy's decision rested largely on the fact that Montana was essentially trying to conduct foreign policy as a result of a ban it claimed to impose on TikTok-an action only to be enforced by federal authority. Molloy also noted that there was "a pervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment" in Montana's proposed legislation.

TikTok welcomed the ruling, releasing a brief statement:

We are relieved the judge struck down this unconstitutional law, and hundreds of thousands of Montanans may continue to express themselves, earn a living, and connect on TikTok.
The Montana attorney general said it is considering its next steps to advance its proposed TikTok ban.

This is a victory for TikTok, but the Biden Administration is still considering a complete ban of TikTok in the United States, something that may still happen, although those measures have been delayed by legal and legislative challenges.
As I have previously mentioned, I personally believe that TikTok will not be banned here in the United States unless there is some great shift in the relationship between the U.S. and China, and that relationship is always somewhat tense and volatile to a degree.

If the U.S. government has new reason to be concerned, it may well move to ban the app. Doing so, however, would be a significant step, and would prompt further response from the C.C.P.

And that is why I think the U.S. government will not act unless it feels it has to. But there appears to be no impetus currently to result in a ban and halt the Chinese-owned company from functioning in the region merely because of the latter's origin.

Which is the real crux of the issue here. A TikTok ban isn't just banning a social media company, it's blocking cross-border commerce because the company is owned by China, which will remain the logic unless clear evidence arises that TikTok has been used as a vector for gathering information on U.S. citizens.

Forbidding an app on the basis that it's owned by a Chinese firm is a political gesture, beyond the contention of a social application. And if it chooses to do so, the United States would be justified in taking steps forward with caution about how such an action might reverberate in other sectors.

TikTok is not being banned today; not in Montana nor anywhere else in America. But that can quickly come to be.