Facing libel lawsuit, Techdirt takes large donations to broaden coverage

In the wake of an ongoing, expensive libel lawsuit that could drag on for years, Mike Masnick, the founder of Techdirt, announced that his website would accept more than $250,000 in donations "to further reporting on free speech." In a lengthy post, Masnick explained that the Freedom of the Press Foundation, along with other companies and organizations—including Automattic, the Charles Koch Foundation, Union Square Ventures, and a charity founded by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark—will "enable us to focus even more reporting resources on covering threats to free speech in the US and around the globe, and to tell the stories of the chilling effects created when free speech is attacked."

Masnick underscored that the money was not for the company’s legal defense, but for continued journalistic operations in this field. He acknowledged that the Koch Foundation, which has historically supported numerous conservative political causes, is an unlikely partner with some of the other donors. "[The Koch Foundation has] a history of supporting free speech efforts," Masnick said. "We reached out to folks widely across the entire political spectrum in the belief that free speech is not a partisan issue."