MADRID, May 23. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –

TikTok announced this Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against the US state of Montana over the bill, tabled in recent days by its governor, that would ban the app from 2024.

“We are challenging the unconstitutional ban on TikTok in Montana to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana. We believe our legal efforts will be victorious based on very strong precedent and facts,” read a statement from himself, published on his profile on the social network Twitter.

The app, which accused the ban of violating the US Constitution, noted that concerns that the Chinese government could access app user data, which was the main motivation behind the ban, were “unfounded”.

The governor of the US state of Montana, Greg Gianforte, announced last week a ban on the TikTok app, thereby becoming the first state to take this action, stating that the decision was due to the Chinese Communist Party’s protection of “the private and personal data of Montanans.”

After that, a group of TikTok content creators – who live in the state and who use the app as an integral part of their business or community – sued the authorities, alleging that the ban was a crime against freedom of expression. , compared to other types of media.

As well as accusing Gianforte of violating freedom of expression, they also claim that the ban violates other rights, contrary to the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, which stipulates, among other things, the obligation to hold a fair trial before removing freedom of expression. public.

The controversial law, which comes as several lawmakers are calling for a nationwide ban on the app, marks another step in banning TikTok – whose parent company is China’s ByteDance – after growing security concerns in the West. applications as Trojan horses to promote pro-China propaganda or collect user data.

The Chinese authorities have lashed out that, after a series of vetoes in recent months by several countries – the US, the UK and the EU – on the apparatus of public administration, there is hidden political intent without any form. real technological justification.