free speech
9 briefs
The FCC vs. The View, and the Broadcast License as a Weapon
The Trump FCC is using a 1934 equal-time rule to investigate a talk show, threatening licenses and rewriting 20-year-old precedents. ABC is fighting back. The stakes are whether the government can police broadcast content through regulatory intimidation.
France Opens Criminal Case Against Musk and X. He Still Isn't Coming.
French prosecutors escalated their probe of Elon Musk and X to a criminal investigation after he and former CEO Linda Yaccarino ignored summons. The US government previously called the probe a political attack on an American business.
Starmer Considers Banning Protests Three Days Before an Election He Is About to Lose
Two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green this week. The Prime Minister says some pro-Palestinian marches may need to stop. His party is braced to lose up to 2,000 council seats on Thursday.
The Seashell Prosecution
The DOJ just charged James Comey with threatening the president's life based on a photo of beach shells. Legal experts call it an embarrassment. The administration is calling it justice.
The FTC Is Doing to NewsGuard What Rhode Island Did to Comic Books in 1956.
Courts have repeatedly ruled that government pressure on private intermediaries to suppress speech is unconstitutional. The Trump administration is doing it anyway, from a different direction.
India Just Rewrote the Rules for Who Controls Speech Online
The 2026 IT Rules amendment gives government ministries direct power to order takedowns, make advisories binding, and remove safe harbour from platforms that don't comply within hours.
The Law That Teenagers Broke in a Week
Australia's under-16 social media ban has been in force for four months. The regulator says platforms are failing. A 15-year-old named Noah is fighting it in court. Both things can be true.
The Government That Pressed the Mute Button
The DOJ settled a lawsuit confirming the Biden State Department funded tools to suppress protected speech on social media. The settlement admits more than it resolves.
The Free Speech Group Left the Free Speech Platform
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's departure from X is not a media story about platform loyalty. It is a signal about who the digital rights movement thinks it is fighting now.