The new rules in Montana will have more far-reaching effects than TikTok bans already in place on government-issued devices in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government. There are 200,000 TikTok users in Montana as well as 6,000 businesses that use the video-sharing platform, according to company spokesperson Jamal Brown. Pictured: Montana Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signs a law banning TikTok in the state. That law made Montana became the first state in the U.S. to completely ban TikTok.
The White House Correspondents Association has issued a statement blasting President Donald Trump’s praise of a violent assault on a reporter by Montana’s GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte in 2016. “All Americans should recoil from the president’s praise for a violent assault on a reporter doing his Constitutionally protected job,” the association said.
The VP and director of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which has often been criticized for its conservative slant, donated to Rep. Greg Gianforte’s campaign the day after the Montana Republican was charged with assaulting a reporter. The donation of $1,000 by Frederick G. Smith, a member of the family that owns the company, came on May 25, the day after Gianforte was elected, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Smith also gave $1,000 to Gianforte’s campaign in March.
RTNDA’s Voice of the First Amendment Task Force expressed concern Monday about the safety of journalists in the U.S., following the guilty plea and light sentence for Rep.-Elect Greg Gianforte in a misdemeanor assault case, which charged him with physically attacking a reporter last month.
Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte was issued a citation late Wednesday after he allegedly “body-slammed” The Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs at a campaign event on the eve of a hotly contested special election.
