Guess who's quietly bankrolling a legal fight against Montana's TikTok ban. Why yes, it's TikTok
While TikTok's funding of the lawsuit is above board, the fact it was kept secret until the plaintiffs spilled the beans isn't a great look. We asked TikTok and its lawyers in Montana if they were concerned that news TikTok was funding the fight would affect the outcome, and we didn't hear back from either party.
We also reached out to Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the named defendant in the case, to see if his office had a take on the news. AG Knudsen's office said TikTok's actions are perfectly legal and won't affect the trajectory of the case, but a spokesperson told us it makes clear the reality behind the lawsuit.
"TikTok's 'support' is bought and paid for – Montanans recognize the threat that the app poses to their privacy and national security because it is owned by a company that answers to the Chinese Communist Party," Emily Flower, a spokeswoman for the AG, told us.News that TikTok is quietly funding a seemingly independent legal battle to overturn the Montana ban isn't the only eyebrow-raising behavior the company has copped to of late.
That same year, TikTok said it would ensure all US user data stays in the United States and Singapore anyway, in datacentersAmerican IT giant Oracle and using infrastructure maintained by TikTok's US entity. It was hoped that shift, keeping US data out of Beijing's immediate reach, would placate its critics and the American administration, and avoid any outright bans, though it had to concede some China-based TikTok staff could still obtain access to US user data.
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