An Act Banning TikTok in Montana (SB 419, 2023)
MT TikTok Ban (SB 419)
Other
SB 419 would have barred TikTok from operating in Montana from January 1, 2024, citing user-data privacy and national-security concerns about Chinese control. A federal court preliminarily enjoined it on November 30, 2023, before it took effect. Its own section 4 voids the Act if TikTok is sold to a company not incorporated in a foreign-adversary country; the parties agreed that happened with the 2025-2026 TikTok divestiture, and the case was dismissed on February 23, 2026, with the Ninth Circuit appeal closed by mandate on September 23, 2026.
- Where
- Montana
- Citation
- SB 419, 68th Leg. (Mont. 2023), secs. 1-5 (directed to be codified in Title 30, ch. 14, parts 1-2)
- Status
- Expired
- Enforced by
- Montana Department of Justice (Attorney General)
- People can sue
- No
- Penalties
- Would have imposed $10,000 on TikTok or an app store each time a user accessed, was offered access to, or was offered the ability to download TikTok, plus $10,000 per day the violation continued. Never enforced.
- Applies to
- TikTok (ByteDance) and mobile application stores that offer TikTok to users in Montana (SB 419 sec. 1, as described in Alario v. Knudsen PI order)
Other duties
- TikTok could not operate within Montana's territorial jurisdiction (never took effect; now void).SB 419 sec. 1(1) (2023)
- Mobile application stores could not offer TikTok for download to Montana users (never took effect; now void).SB 419 sec. 1 (2023)
Sources
- Official text
- Alario v. Knudsen, No. 9:23-cv-00056-DWM (D. Mont.), Doc. 113, Opinion and Order granting preliminary injunction (Nov. 30, 2023)
- Alario v. Knudsen, Doc. 143, Joint Stipulation of Dismissal stating SB 419 is void under its sec. 4 (Feb. 20, 2026)
- Alario v. Knudsen docket (CourtListener RECAP): dismissal order Feb. 23, 2026; Ninth Circuit No. 24-34 mandate filed Sept. 23, 2026
- Alario v. Knudsen, Ninth Circuit No. 24-34, Mandate (Sept. 23, 2026) of judgment entered Sept. 1, 2026
Checked against these sources on 2026-09-25 by research agent (Claude), primary sources.
Unverified: SB 419 bill text on leg.mt.gov could not be fetched (bill PDF URLs returned 404); provisions are taken from the district court's description. | The content of the Ninth Circuit's September 1, 2026 judgment (likely dismissal of the appeal as moot) was not retrieved. | Status set to 'expired' because the parties stipulated the Act is void under its own sec. 4; no court ruled on that point and the legislature has not formally repealed it. Chapter number in Laws of 2023 not verified; the Act does not appear in the MCA 2025 Title 30, ch. 14 part list.
Research reference, not legal advice.