Five TikTok users in Montana have filed a lawsuit against US state legislation set to ban the video-sharing app from 1 January 2022. The plaintiffs, all Montana residents, argue that the law violates their constitutional right to free speech under the First Amendment. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed off the legislation on 12 May. The proposed ban comes amid ongoing concerns over the potential for Chinese government influence over social media platforms. The lawsuit is assigned to Judge Donald Molloy, who was appointed by Democrat President Bill Clinton in 1995.
Five users of short video app TikTok are challenging Montana's move to block the platform in the US state, with a lawsuit arguing that the ban violates their constitutional rights. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill on 5 May to make it unlawful for the app stores run by Apple and Google to offer the Chinese-owned app in the state from 1 January 2022. The lawsuit, brought by the five Montana residents, drew parallels with the proposed ban of The Wall Street Journal because of its owners, saying "Montana can no more ban its residents from viewing or posting to TikTok".
Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is accused of leaking scores of classified documents—the largest disclosure of classified US secrets in a decade—to friends in a chatroom using the Discord communication app. Last week, a federal magistrate judge in Worcester, Massachusetts, heard arguments on whether Teixeira should be freed on bond or detained pending trial. A ruling from judge David H. Hennessy is yet to be released. The case has raised numerous questions, including why these leaks still occur despite safeguards put into place after the Bradley (Chelsea) Manning debacle. The Teixeira case rattled the national security establishment, exposed sensitive sources and methods, and caused untold damage that we are only beginning to understand. The potential charges that Teixeira faces include violating two federal laws: unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Each violation carries a maximum sentence of 10 years upon conviction, and each violation of 18 U.S.C. 1924 carries a maximum of five years.
Teixeira began posting text that appeared to contain classified information on a social media platform using a server that he administered in December 2022. In January 2022, Jack began posting photographs of U.S. government documents with classified markings. In February 2022, records indicated that he accessed and posted a document that described the status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including troop movements on a particular date. The more that is released around the case, the wider the net potentially gets. The documents provided apparently offer extensive insight into the modus operandi of American intelligence gathering as well as providing a level of transparency that some might argue contributes to a more open democracy. The revelations of intelligence often make clear what foreign governments think of their peers and give us context or background for understanding great power competition.
The US Congress has passed a law to declassify intelligence about the origins of Covid-19; it was signed into law by President Joe Biden on 14 November. The move comes after a Wall Street Journal report claimed that US analysts believed that SARS-CoV-2 probably leaked from a research facility in Wuhan, China. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is also investigating the origins of Covid-19. Recently released emails between virologists and US National Institutes of Health officials reveal a concerted effort to discredit the possibility that the virus resulted from a Chinese laboratory leak.
The legal conflict over the Food and Drug Administration’s lax regulation of abortion drugs is getting more complicated by the day as a lawsuit winds its way through the federal courts. Medical groups filed another petition in March 2019 to challenge these changes. Once again, the FDA ignored the law and, this time, waited for 994 days before rejecting the petition.
Last November, four medical associations and four emergency room doctors sued the FDA, alleging that its approval of Mifeprex and subsequent decisions weakening its safety restrictions were “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act. In other words, “Hundreds of thousands of women will … need emergency care on account of [the FDA’s] actions. And because [the FDA] chose to cut out doctors from the prescription and administration of mifepristone, plaintiff doctors and their associations will necessarily be injured by the consequences,” the panel wrote.
The 5th Circuit’s decision is that, while the lawsuit proceeds, the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone remains and the safety restrictions that were repealed in 2016 and 2021 are reinstated. In other words, mifepristone can be used up to seven, not 10, weeks; using mifepristone will require three physician office visits; only doctors may dispense or administer the drug; doctors must report all medical complications to the FDA; and abortion drugs may not be dispensed through the mail or mail-order pharmacies.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has convened a hearing in favour of one of the oldest and most controversial U.S.-constitutional amendments. Known as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), it makes sex discrimination unconstitutional and was first introduced by Chicago activist Alice Paul in 1923. In 1972, the ERA was supported by both parties and gained Congressional approval, yet fell three states short of ratification by the seven-year deadline Congress established. During the hearing, supporters of the ERA argued that it would solve problems such as the “pay gap” between men and women. However, the ERA prohibits denial of equality “on account of sex” by “the United States or by any State,” meaning it applies to government action, not private action. Additionally, as argued by Jennifer Braceras, director of the Independent Women’s Legal Center, today's gender ideologists would push to interpret "sex" as including sexual orientation and gender identity, a development that would threaten policies and programs specifically designated to support women and girls.
Former CEO of Joondalup Health Campus, Kempton Cowan, has pleaded guilty to almost a dozen charges of possessing and transmitting child abuse material. Cowan admitted to three counts of possessing child abuse material, seven counts of acquiring child porn and one count of soliciting child abuse material. The charges were brought about after a police raid on his Mosman Park home in May 2021, after Interpol had contacted the Australian Federal Police making allegations about online communications with a UK-based teenager.
CureVac has filed an expanded patent infringement claim against Pfizer and BioNTech over the use of mRNA technology in their COVID-19 vaccine. The counterclaim alleges that the companies infringed on nine of CureVac's patents, compared to the original claim of three. The trial has been transferred from the Federal District Court of Massachusetts to the Eastern District of Virginia. Pfizer and BioNTech filed a complaint seeking a judgment that they did not infringe U.S. patents held by CureVac. Both companies are also facing other patent infringement lawsuits.
Montana has become the first US state to ban TikTok on all devices, even personal ones, triggering renewed doubts about the short-form video app’s future in the country. The state’s governor, Greg Gianforte, signed a bill into law that would fine TikTok and online app stores for making the service available to state residents. It takes effect next year. TikTok and other civil society groups warn that the law as written is unconstitutional. Even if the law is allowed to stand, the practicalities of the internet may make it impossible to keep TikTok out of the hands of users. Its vagueness could make it difficult to effectively implement and enforce. TikTok has said it is executing on a plan to store US user data on cloud servers owned by the US tech giant Oracle, and that when the initiative is complete, access to the data will be overseen by US employees. More than half of US states have announced some restrictions on TikTok affecting the app on government devices.
Former Washington DC police lieutenant, Shane Lamond, has been arrested for obstructing an investigation and making false statements and allegations that he leaked information to Enrique Tarrio, leader of extremist group The Proud Boys. Mr Lamond has been indicted with one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. It is alleged that he was in regular contact with Mr Tarrio from July 2019, and used Telegram to reveal confidential information about the Proud Boys and police investigations to him.
A police lieutenant has been indicted on a charge of obstruction of justice and three charges of making false statements. Shane Lamond, then the head of intelligence at the Washington DC police department, is accused of telling the leader of far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, that he would be arrested for his actions regarding a pro-Trump rally in December 2020, thus obstructing the investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Three other Proud Boys leaders were convicted of seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot earlier this month.
An Illinois judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Mondelez International of deceiving consumers by removing real mint from its Trident Original Flavor chewing gum. US District Judge Iain Johnston said it was “fanciful” to believe consumers would expect the gum to contain mint or peppermint. The proposed class action by Kristen Lesorgen of Sycamore, Illinois, was like a separate case over claims against Walmart’s Great Value Fudge Mint Cookies, which had been dismissed for a similar reason.
Social media app TikTok has launched a legal challenge against Montana's ban on its use, which it says is unconstitutional and violates freedom of speech. The company has already faced similar bans in two dozen US states and by the military. Republican lawmakers in Montana introduced the law to prevent the Chinese government gaining access to Montanans' personal information.TikTok has more than 150 million US users, with the Biden administration still considering whether to approve its business plans in the US.
