Montana News
Montana ACLU files legal support opposing TikTok ban
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By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - Civil liberties advocates are joining with TikTok's creators to overturn Montana's ban on use of the social media app, which is owned by a Chinese company. State government argues the Chinese Communist Party – 'a known U.S. adversary' – uses the platform to harvest data from Americans and 'engage in corporate espionage.' Comments from Alex Rate, legal director, ACLU of Montana.
Mark Moran
September 1, 2023 - The ACLU of Montana is supporting a lawsuit to overturn a ban on the social media platform TikTok.
Montana lawmakers passed a bill fining app providers who make TikTok available in their online stores. The ban is set to go into effect next year. Montana was the first state to effectively outlaw TikTok when it passed Senate Bill 419 in the spring. The measure prohibits app providers from offering TikTok to users in Montana and imposes a $10,000 fine on app stores each time a Montana-based user downloads it, and another $10,000 for every day they offer TikTok after that.
Alex Rate, ACLU of Montana legal director, called the move a violation of Montanans' right to free speech.
"In order for a democracy to function, individuals need an unabridged right to speak," he said, "and when the legislature or the government decides to restrict those ways that we can speak with one another, that violates our constitutional rights."
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen argued that the TikTok ban isn't about free expression, but said it focuses on protecting people from the Chinese Communist Party - in his words, "a known adversary to the United States."
Knudsen said SB 419 doesn't prohibit the messages, ideas and content found on TikTok, but "prohibits the use of a product in Montana," and that the consumer-protection interest in the ban is "unrelated to the suppression of free expression." The lawsuit to stop the ban from going into effect was originally filed by TikTok's creators. Rate contended that TikTok is more than just a video-sharing entertainment app.
"This is an important social-media platform for many people across the state," he said, "including Indigenous users."
SB 419 alleges that TikTok seeks to harvest and share information with the People's Republic of China, which the bill claims has an interest in gathering information about Montanans, Montana companies, and users' intellectual property "to engage in corporate and international espionage."
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Following our democracy for Friday, September 1, 2023
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PNS - Friday, September 1, 2023 - Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp rejects calls from GOP lawmakers for a special session to examine Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Justice Clarence Thomas discloses trips paid for by a right-wing billionaire. Texas Supreme Court allows a ban on gender-affirming care for youth.
News update for Friday, September 1, 2023
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PNS - Friday, September 1, 2023 - A hearing today on a Bill to halt restitution fines for juvenile crimes; GOP senators reported to weigh 'special' meeting on their leadership after McConnell's freeze; North Dakota now faces moderate threat from 'Election Denialism.'
Backers: Blackfoot Act would add $2.6B to Montana's outdoor economy
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August 31, 2023 - By Mark Moran - Producer-Editor, Contact - News
Big Sky Connection - A bill introduced in Washington by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., would create 80,000 acres of new wilderness in some of Montana's most pristine outdoor areas. The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act is popular among Montana voters and has been in the works for years. Comments from Juanita Vero, Missoula County Commissioner and owner of E Bar L Dude Ranch; and Todd Frank, owner, of Missoula-based Trailhead River Sports.
Mark Moran
August 31, 2023 - Lawmakers in Washington held their first Senate hearing on the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act.
Authored by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., it would add 80,000 acres of new wilderness area in the state. The act would sustain economic development and recreational use of National Forest land in Montana's Bob Marshall, Mission Mountains and Scapegoat wilderness areas. Proponents say it would designate new areas for recreation, safeguard crucial tributaries of the Blackfoot and Clearwater rivers and protect public lands and other waterways.
Juanita Vero, a Missoula County commissioner and whose family has owned the E-Bar-L Dude Ranch outside Missoula for nearly a century, said the act protects the things that make Montana so environmentally special.
"Clean air. Clean water. Open space. Unfettered access. Public lands. Public waters," Vero outlined. "These are all the things Montana stands for, and we get to offer that."
While the bill enjoys strong support, critics contend it contains too many special-interest carve-outs by designating currently protected land into snowmobile and mountain-bike areas, for example, and opens roadless areas for logging companies to bulldoze and clear-cut.
A recent public lands survey found 84% of Montanans support the act, which has been in the works for years.
Todd Frank, owner of Missoula-based Trailhead River Sports, said adding tens of thousands of acres of recreational area is going to bolster Montana's already popular reputation as a mecca for outdoor activities. He added it would be good for business, too.
"I'm a merchant, and everybody that walks through my door is a potential customer," Frank explained. "I look at this thing and say this is a solution that answers every one of my customers' needs that walk through the door."
The Blackfoot Watershed is a habitat for bears, moose, deer, elk, and wolverines. The rivers and streams are home to world-class cutthroat and bull trout, synonymous with fishing in Montana.
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