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Montana’s TikTok Ban Dismissed After Ownership Changes
A federal judge has dismissed Montana’s pioneering attempt to ban TikTok statewide, concluding a legal battle that began in 2023. U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ended the case on February 20 after ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, reduced its ownership stake in the platform.
The judge based his decision on a specific clause in the Montana law that would void the ban if ByteDance sold a majority share to a non-Chinese entity. That transfer of ownership occurred in January, rendering the state’s ban moot before it could take effect.
Montana made headlines in 2023 as the first state to attempt a complete TikTok ban amid growing concerns about Chinese government access to American user data. The legislation, championed by Republican lawmakers and signed by Governor Greg Gianforte, sparked immediate legal challenges from both TikTok users and ByteDance.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who defended the law in court, celebrated the resolution in a statement. “President Trump, with his years of business and negotiation experience, worked diligently and succeeded in finding the right American company to purchase TikTok and make sure that Montanans and Americans will no longer be spied on by a foreign adversary,” Knudsen wrote. “Today’s dismissal ends years of litigation, brought on by TikTok, and will stop wasting taxpayers’ money.”
The state’s Department of Justice had previously expressed support for the ban during legislative hearings, citing “grave concerns with the popular app related to national security and China’s influence through TikTok,” according to Crime Information Bureau Chief Anne Dormandy’s testimony.
Though Governor Gianforte initially expressed concerns about the bill’s legal vulnerability, he ultimately signed it into law in spring 2023. Judge Molloy had temporarily blocked the ban from taking effect in November 2023 while the case proceeded through the courts.
Montana’s efforts paralleled increasing federal scrutiny of TikTok. The Biden administration prohibited the app on government devices in February 2023, and Congress grilled TikTok CEO Zi Chew during a high-profile hearing the following month.
The federal government ultimately took more decisive action in 2024, when President Biden signed legislation requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a nationwide ban within 270 days. After surviving legal challenges, TikTok briefly blocked American users in January 2025 before President Trump issued the first of several executive orders extending the divestiture deadline.
ByteDance finally completed the sale in January 2026, retaining a 19.9% ownership stake. Other major investors now include technology giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and MGX, an investment company owned by the United Arab Emirates.
However, some experts question whether the ownership change truly addresses the security concerns that prompted the original ban. Timothy Edgar, a cybersecurity expert at Brown University and Harvard Law School, argues that the focus on company ownership may miss the point.
“I actually worry that there’s going to be less oversight of TikTok’s data, less pressure to uphold some of the requirements in that data safeguarding agreement that they had,” Edgar said. “And so, in a way, we’re in a worse position now than we were when TikTok was owned by ByteDance.”
Edgar suggests the earlier approach of negotiating data protection agreements through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was more effective than forcing a change in ownership structure.
“They focused on the wrong thing,” Edgar said about supporters of the forced sale. “They focused on who owns the company instead of on what are the real risks? How would a country like China get ahold of data? And what are we going to do to protect our personal data against China?”
The resolution of Montana’s TikTok ban reflects the evolving national conversation about social media regulation, data privacy, and national security concerns in an increasingly connected global digital environment.
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14 Comments
This saga highlights the complexities of regulating social media platforms with international ownership. The ByteDance ownership change appears to have been the key factor in voiding Montana’s TikTok ban.
It will be interesting to see if other states attempt similar bans and how they navigate the legal challenges.
The dismissal of Montana’s TikTok ban underscores the difficulty states face in regulating global technology platforms. Lawmakers may need to explore alternative policy approaches to address data privacy and national security concerns.
This episode highlights the need for a more coordinated federal response to the challenges posed by Chinese-owned social media apps like TikTok.
This case demonstrates the legal complexities surrounding state-level attempts to restrict or ban major social media platforms. It will be interesting to see if other states pursue similar measures and how the courts respond.
The ownership change that voided Montana’s ban suggests tech companies may be able to quickly adapt to avoid such state-level restrictions.
The ownership transfer demonstrates the agility of large tech companies to adapt and avoid regulatory hurdles. This outcome may discourage other states from pursuing outright TikTok bans.
Lawmakers will need to find alternative approaches to address data privacy and national security concerns around TikTok and similar platforms.
The dismissal of Montana’s TikTok ban highlights the challenges states face in regulating global tech platforms. This may prompt calls for more coordinated federal oversight of data privacy and national security risks.
Ultimately, any lasting solution will likely require cooperation between lawmakers, regulators, and the tech industry to find a balanced approach.
The resolution of this case demonstrates the agility of major tech companies in navigating legal and regulatory hurdles. It may discourage other states from pursuing outright bans on platforms like TikTok.
However, the underlying concerns about data privacy and national security risks are likely to persist, prompting continued calls for a more comprehensive federal approach.
While the court case has ended, the underlying debate around Chinese tech companies’ access to US user data continues. This episode underscores the need for clearer federal guidelines on data privacy and national security risks.
It will be crucial to see if the Biden administration takes further action to address these concerns around TikTok and other Chinese-owned platforms.