Censorship

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and colleagues reintroduced the PRESERVE Online Speech Act. This bill would combat censorship coordination between big tech companies and governments by requiring technology companies to disclose any US or foreign government requests or recommendations regarding content moderation. Specifically, this bill would: 

The US Justice Department asked a federal judge to stay his sweeping injunction barring many government interactions with social media companies on free-speech grounds, arguing that it was vague, confusing and likely to be overturned on appeal. “The Court’s July 4 preliminary injunction is both sweeping in scope and vague in its terms,” lawyers led by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton wrote in a filing before US District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana, citing rules that require the document to make clear “exactly what conduct is proscribed.” The government team ask

Two months after President Biden took office, his top digital adviser emailed officials at Facebook urging them to do more to limit the spread of “vaccine hesitancy” on the social media platform. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials held “weekly sync” meetings with Facebook, once emailing the company 16 “misinformation” posts. And in the summer of 2021, the surgeon general’s top aide repeatedly urged Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to combat disinformation.

One day after a Louisiana federal judge set limits on the Biden administration’s communications with tech firms, the US State Department canceled its regular meeting with Facebook officials to discuss 2024 election preparations and hacking threats. State Department officials said all future meetings, which had been held monthly, have been “canceled pending further guidance." The cancellation shows the immediate impact of the order by US District Judge Terry A. Doughty, a Trump appointee.

Judge Terry Doughty of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana restricted parts of the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online.

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed into law a so-called “digital bill of rights” aimed at giving residents more control of their data, boosting children’s protections online, and barring social networks from coordinating with government officials to “censor” speech. It marked the latest broadside from a Republican presidential contender against Silicon Valley, which is poised to be a significant target as the 2024 campaign heats up.

Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) introduced the Curtailing Online Limitations that Lead Unconstitutionally to Democracy’s Erosion (COLLUDE) Act, in order to halt the collusion between Big Tech and the federal government which has led to censoring Americans’ speech. The COLLUDE Act prevents Big Tech companies from colluding with government to censor free speech, by stripping them of their Section 230 protection if they commit such actions. Specifically, the bill:

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) threatened enforcement action against Google that could include holding the company in contempt of Congress for failing to produce documents the committee subpoenaed. In a letter to a lawyer for Google shared exclusively with CNBC, Chairman Jordan called the company’s compliance so far “insufficient” and demanded it hands over more information.

The House Commerce Committee’s Republican leadership has scheduled the latest Big Tech beating on Capitol Hill and they have signaled it will be filled with Republican red-meat issues. The official beating will commence on March 28 at 10:30 a.m., but it has already begun. Unlike a recent Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee hearing that had bipartisan backing, the House hearing notice is filled with partisan shots. In a joint statement, House Commerce Chair Cathy Mc

From Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe, authorities are imposing internet shutdowns at staggering rates. In 2022 alone, governments and other actors disrupted the internet at least 187 times across 35 countries — breaking our #KeepItOn record for the number of countries to hit the kill switch in a single year. Not only are shutdowns resurging after a decrease at the height of the pandemic, they’re lasting longer, targeting specific populations, and are being wielded when people need a connection the most — including during humanitarian crises, mass protests, and active conflict and war.