In short: we could not get our ish together to get this out to you! But we’re still tracking the Trump administration’s censorship activities…even if we’re a little behind schedule. To keep you up to date, some of the items below are a little shorter than usual. We’ve put together a rapid-fire list of updates in addition to some deeper analysis about the SPLC lawsuit. Happy doomscrolling(?)!

As always, if you appreciate our work and want to help us spread awareness of the attack on First Amendment rights under this administration, comment, like, or restack this post and help Substack’s recommendation algorithm show it to more people. 🙏🏻☀️

And don’t forget: you can always see the up-to-date censorship count at TrumpCensorship.com!

Last week delivered the most aggressive escalation yet of the administration’s effort to weaponize federal law enforcement against organizations doing work it dislikes: the Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center — one of the country’s most established civil rights organizations — using a fraud theory that legal experts across the political spectrum say cannot survive contact with reality. At the same time, the FCC opened yet another content investigation, this one into how children’s programming addresses “gender identity”; Trump abruptly dismissed nearly all members of the National Science Board; and a federal book-ban bill targeting LGBTQ-inclusive materials moved closer to a House floor vote. The administration is no longer building the infrastructure to punish disfavored speech. It is using it.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

DOJ Indicts the Southern Poverty Law Center in Open Retaliation for Its Civil Rights Work.

On April 21, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel unveiled an 11-count federal indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, charging the 55-year-old civil rights organization with wire fraud, false statements to a bank, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The government’s theory is that the SPLC defrauded its donors by using their money to pay confidential informants who had infiltrated white supremacist groups including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Party of America — informants the SPLC says provided intelligence used to build the very legal cases that have crippled those organizations for decades. The indictment seeks forfeiture of every dollar associated with the program.

The case is being met with disbelief from legal experts, who told CNN it faces “major hurdles” because its theory “runs counter to the reality of the SPLC’s stated objectives over the years.” Retired federal Judge Nancy Gertner called the indictment “preposterous,” saying the SPLC has “long made public its mission of dismantling extremist groups,” and that “everyone understood the way they function and why they function and how that was part of the mission. So it is a curious indictment.” She predicted the case “will fall apart” because “there will be no witnesses to support what they’re saying.” Furthermore, the 14-page indictment offers no specific examples of donors who claim they were defrauded and names not a single complainant.

The indictment also demonstrates a pattern: an indictment of a civil rights organization, brought by an administration that has spent its second term attacking law firms, defunding public broadcasters, banning a major AI company for daring to insist on its terms, blacklisting universities, and now criminalizing the work of a watchdog group whose central function is documenting the activities of the very extremist groups the FBI claims to be combating.

And the retaliatory context is unmistakable. Last October, FBI Director Patel severed all bureau ties with the SPLC, calling the organization a “partisan smear machine” after conservative criticism intensified following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The SPLC had long supplied the FBI with research on hate crimes and extremist groups; Patel ended that partnership because the SPLC’s research had labeled a political organization founded by Kirk as extremist.

Writing in Just Security, former federal prosecutors noted that “nothing in the speaking indictment against the Center appears to meet the legal standard required” for either fraud or money laundering, and that the DOJ’s framing of the SPLC’s bank accounts as “fictitious” is contradicted by the indictment’s own admission that legitimate sole proprietorship paperwork existed for them.

SPLC interim CEO Bryan Fair said, “When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the civil rights movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system. There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”

Crackdown on Academic Freedom and Research

Trump Fires National Science Board Members in Mass Purge

In late April, the White House terminated multiple members of the National Science Board — the body that sets policy for the National Science Foundation — effective immediately. Board members typically serve fixed six-year terms, a structure designed to insulate the nation’s scientific research priorities from political interference and ensure continuity across administrations. The dismissal letters, sent on behalf of the president by the White House Presidential Personnel Office, contained no rationale. The firings come as the administration has canceled nearly 1,400 NSF grants since returning to office and proposed slashing the agency’s budget by more than half in its FY27 budget request. The pattern — purging independent scientific oversight while gutting the funding infrastructure — fits a broader strategy of subordinating the federal scientific establishment to political control, similar to the administration’s earlier removal of career privacy officers at DHS who had refused orders to mislabel surveillance records.

Suppressing Press Freedom

FCC Opens “Gender Identity” Inquiry Into Children’s Programming

On April 22, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a new inquiry into the television ratings system, focused on whether “issues of gender identity” are being included in children’s programming without being flagged to parents. Carr framed the inquiry as a response to “parents” raising concerns, posting on X that “New York & Hollywood programmers are promoting controversial issues in kids programming without providing any transparency or disclosures to parents.” First Amendment advocates immediately pointed out that the FCC’s authority over content is sharply limited and that the inquiry appears designed less as a regulatory action than as a vehicle to chill broadcasters into self-censorship. The inquiry adds to a list of ongoing FCC investigations under Carr that target nearly every major broadcast network — ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, NPR, and Comcast — with the conspicuous exception of Fox, which is owned by Trump ally Rupert Murdoch. Sole Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez has repeatedly characterized Carr’s investigations as part of an “ongoing campaign to censor and control speech.” Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats opened their own investigation into Carr last year, calling his FCC inquiries “bogus” and accusing him of weaponizing the agency to “harass and intimidate journalists and news outlets.”

See also…

• The President, White House, and Carr also called for action (and a potential criminal investigation) against CNN for accurately reporting a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council…

• …and ordered a review of ABC’s broadcast licenses after Jimmy Kimmel told a joke they didn’t like. (Yes, again.)

• The President demanded that Fox take Democrat Jessica Tarlov off the air.

• FBI Director Kash Patel sued The Atlantic for defamation after they published a story about his “excessive drinking and unexplained absences.”

• The Bureau also investigated a New York Times reporter after she wrote an article about Kash Patel’s girlfriend. Ultimately, the Justice Department determined there was “no legal basis to proceed with the investigation.”

• As part of ongoing litigation, the State Department produced a memo from former-right-wing-shitposter-turned-diplomat Darren Beattie that preceded four disinformation researchers and a former EU official being barred from entering the United States, and this document is wild.

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Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Federal Anti-LGBTQ Book Ban Advances Toward House Floor Vote

HR 7661 — the so-called “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” sponsored by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) — has cleared committee and may move forward for a House floor vote following Congress’s two-week recess. The bill threatens federal funding for any school or library that does not remove books containing what it broadly defines as “sexually oriented material” — a category written to encompass any content that “involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism.” The American Library Association, GLAAD, PEN America, EveryLibrary, and a coalition of more than two dozen organizations have mobilized against the bill, calling it the most sweeping federal censorship measure in recent memory. The legislation arrives against the backdrop of nearly 23,000 individual book bans in U.S. public schools since 2021, the overwhelming majority targeting books by or about LGBTQ people and people of color. As ALA director Cindy Hohl put it, the bill “steals the power to choose what kids read away from parents, local communities and well-trained educators and librarians, and gives it to politicians in Washington, D.C.” The Pressley-led “Books Save Lives Act” — which would classify book bans as federal civil rights violations — was introduced in early April as a counter-measure but has not advanced.

See also: the Trump Administration has issued new guidance for immigration officers, advising that “participating in pro-Palestinian protests and criticizing Israel [are] ‘overwhelmingly negative’ factors” in deciding whether to award a green card.

The Good News 🌞

The legal vulnerabilities in the SPLC indictment are themselves a form of good news: even as the administration deploys the full machinery of federal prosecution against a civil rights organization, the case has been described by retired federal judges, former federal prosecutors, and Georgetown Law professors as legally untenable on its face. The First Amendment defense the SPLC will mount is robust; the speech-and-association theory has won repeatedly in federal court over the past six months. The case will be heard in Montgomery, Alabama, by U.S. District Judge Emily Marks — a Trump appointee, but one who has shown a willingness to rule against politically motivated prosecutions before. Meanwhile, civil society’s response to HR 7661 has been swift and broad: more than 25,000 people have signed EveryLibrary’s petition opposing the bill, and the American Library Association, GLAAD, PEN America, and a coalition of allied organizations have launched a coordinated lobbying campaign that successfully blocked the most aggressive book-ban provisions in last year’s federal budget.

On April 6, a federal court allowed the Trump administration to withdraw its appeal of an earlier ruling that struck down the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services — preserving a vital source of federal library funding. And the National Science Board firings, while alarming, lead to loud pushback: bipartisan members of the science community, university presidents, and the leadership of the American Association for the Advancement of Science have all spoken publicly against the dismissals, with several former board members signaling they intend to challenge the legality of the terminations.

And the day after Kash Patel sued The Atlantic for defamation, his other defamation suit got roundly thrown out. Boo hoo!

Yes, the administration continues moving aggressively. But so are the states, lawyers, courts, and the public. Hang in there, and we’ll see you with the next newsletter.

If you appreciate our work and want to help us spread awareness of the Trump Administration’s censorship, comment, like, or restack this post to help Substack’s recommendation algorithm show it to more people. 🙏🏻☀️

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We’ve crossed into territory that really has no precedent in America: in the span of these past two weeks, the president of the United States called for reporters to be charged with treason — a crime punishable by death — for covering his war in ways he didn’t like. The FCC chair threatened to revoke broadcast licenses over war coverage the administration deemed unfavorable. The Pentagon, after losing a landmark First Amendment case, retaliated by closing the press corridor journalists have used for decades – and then banishing reporters to an unbuilt annex outside the building. And the Supreme Court refused to hear the 2019 case of a citizen journalist arrested by Texas police for simply asking a public official a question, leaving a ruling in place that gives law enforcement a roadmap for criminalizing routine reporting.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Trump Calls for Treason Charges Against Reporters Over War Coverage

On March 15, President Trump posted a nearly 400-word rant on Truth Social accusing media outlets of working “in close coordination” with Iran and demanding that news organizations “be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information.” Treason is punishable by death under federal law. Trump specifically attacked the Wall Street Journal for reporting that five U.S. Air Force refueling planes were struck during an Iranian missile strike in Saudi Arabia — reporting he called “false” without substantively refuting it. Aboard Air Force One, Trump called a reporter “a very obnoxious person” for asking why he was deploying 5,000 additional Marines. Senator Ed Markey warned in a letter that the administration is engaged in a “blatant attempt to muzzle the free press” if outlets don’t align their coverage with “Trump’s preferred narrative.” The Committee to Protect Journalists called the threats “direct attacks on the First Amendment and part of a deliberate march toward authoritarianism.”

FCC Chair Threatens Broadcast Licenses Over Iran War Coverage

On March 14, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr warned broadcasters that they could lose their licenses if they didn’t “correct course” on Iran coverage, posting on X that “broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” Trump endorsed Carr’s threat the following day, calling media organizations “Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic.” FIRE’s Will Creeley called it “outrageous,” noting that Carr himself said in 2019 that “the FCC does not have a roving mandate to police speech.” Senator Chris Murphy responded: “We aren’t on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.”

Judge Strikes Down Pentagon Press Rules; Pentagon Retaliates by Closing Press Corridor

On March 20, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ruled in favor of the New York Times, striking down the Pentagon’s press credentialing policy as unconstitutional. The policy, implemented last September, had required reporters to pledge not to gather information unless Pentagon officials authorized its release — a restriction that extended to unclassified material. The judge wrote that the First Amendment was designed to empower the press to publish “free of any official proscription” and that the policy was designed to weed out “disfavored journalists” and replace them with those “on board and willing to serve” the government. Three days later, rather than comply, the Pentagon announced it was closing “Correspondents’ Corridor” — the workspace reporters have used for decades — and would eventually relocate journalists to an annex outside the building. The Pentagon also issued a revised policy that the Times immediately called “contemptuously defying” the court order, arguing the new language merely “use[s] more words to say the same thing.” The Pentagon Press Association called the moves “a clear violation of the letter and spirit” of the ruling.

VOA Journalists Sue Kari Lake for Turning the Network into Pro-Trump Propaganda

On March 23, a group of veteran Voice of America journalists filed a new lawsuit against Kari Lake alleging she violated federal law by turning the taxpayer-funded international broadcaster into a vehicle for pro-Trump messaging — particularly during the Iran war. The suit, which also names acting CEO Michael Rigas, alleges that after Lake slashed VOA from 49 language services to six, she infused what remained with a pro-Trump editorial line: the Persian-language service broadcast an hour-long glowing retrospective on Trump’s first year back in office, Lake herself appeared in a five-minute segment praising the president, and a USAGM executive overseeing the Persian service spoke directly to the camera urging Iranians to continue protesting while identifying their interests with Trump’s agenda. The lawsuit alleges these actions violated the statutory “firewall” Congress established to protect VOA’s editorial independence from political interference. The plaintiffs include the former acting director of VOA’s central news division, the director of VOA’s South and Central Asia division, and a Russian-language journalist deemed a foreign agent by the Putin regime for her work. PEN America and Reporters Without Borders joined the suit.

Supreme Court Declines Citizen Journalist Case

On March 23, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case of Priscilla Villarreal, a Texas citizen journalist arrested in 2017 for asking a police officer to confirm the identities of a suicide victim and a car accident victim, which she then published on Facebook. The 5th Circuit had granted the arresting officers qualified immunity, ruling they didn’t have to predict the Texas law they used was unconstitutional. Justice Sotomayor wrote a 15-page dissent calling the denial a “grave error,” writing that the case “implicates one of the most basic journalistic practices of them all: asking sources within the government for information.” She warned that the 5th Circuit’s rule “creates a perverse scheme in which officials can arrest someone for protected activity, decline to appeal a trial court’s decision declaring the statute unconstitutional, and use qualified immunity to avoid liability by citing back to that statute.” FIRE, which represented Villarreal, said the ruling “only shines more light on the need for the court to revisit how qualified immunity applies in free speech cases.”

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Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

Fired FBI Agents Sue Kash Patel Over Political Purge

On March 19, two former FBI special agents filed a lawsuit against FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, alleging they were fired solely because they had been assigned to “Arctic Frost” — the investigation into Donald Trump’s prior efforts overturn the 2020 election. The agents, identified as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2, say they played largely administrative and supporting roles and had exemplary records. One was informed of his firing on Halloween while preparing to go trick-or-treating with his children; the other had just briefed Patel himself on a separate fraud investigation. Their termination letters cited “poor judgment and a lack of impartiality leading to the political weaponization of the government.” Their filing includes arguments that the firings violated the agents’ First Amendment rights (because the terminations were based on perceived political beliefs) and Fifth Amendment rights (because they received no notice, hearing, or opportunity to appeal). Trump has publicly called the Arctic Frost agents “total scum” and ordered Patel to “get them out, NOW!” The FBI Agents Association, which represents more than 14,000 active and former special agents, sharply criticized the removals.

Judge Blocks Pentagon’s Anthropic Blacklisting

On March 26, U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon from designating AI company Anthropic a “supply chain risk” and halting Trump’s directive banning federal agencies from using its technology. In a 43-page ruling, Lin wrote that “nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government.” She found that the government’s actions constituted “classic illegal First Amendment retaliation” — punishing Anthropic for publicly insisting its AI models not be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon had previously praised Anthropic as a partner, Lin noted, but turned against the company only after it “brought public scrutiny to the government’s contracting position.”

It’s a fair bet that the Trump administration will keep appealing this one for as long as they can, with Pentagon Undersecretary Emil Michael posting on X that the supply chain designation remains “in full force and effect.”

The Good News 🌞

Two landmark judicial rulings in a single week offered the clearest evidence yet that the courts are willing to draw increasingly clear constitutional boundaries around press freedom and corporate speech — even in wartime, and even against this administration. Judge Friedman’s ruling striking down the Pentagon’s press policy didn’t just block one rule — it established that the government cannot condition press access on a journalist’s willingness to censor themselves, writing that the principle of a free press “has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years” and “must not be abandoned now.”

And Judge Lin’s injunction blocking the Anthropic blacklisting explicitly named the government’s conduct as First Amendment retaliation, rejecting the argument that simply disagreeing with the Pentagon (or any executive agency) makes an American company a national security threat.

Together, these rulings represent the judiciary’s strongest pushback yet against the administration’s theory that criticism of government policy is itself a form of disloyalty. The FBI agents suing Patel are adding to a growing record of career civil servants who refused to be silent. The FBI Agents Association’s public criticism shows institutional resistance forming within the bureau itself. And Justice Sotomayor’s 15-page dissent in the Villarreal case — warning that the 5th Circuit’s rule gives law enforcement a roadmap for arresting journalists — ensures the issue will return to the court.

Meanwhile, the new VOA propaganda lawsuit shows that the journalists who built that institution are not ceding it quietly — they are using the courts to hold the line between public broadcasting and state media, even as their colleagues remain on administrative leave.

And just this last Saturday, an estimated eight to nine million Americans — in more than 3,300 events across all 50 states — took to the streets for the third “No Kings” protest, making it the largest single-day demonstration in American history. Marchers filled Times Square, crossed Memorial Bridge in Washington, and rallied in conservative strongholds from Southern Pines, North Carolina, to Kotzebue, Alaska. In New York, the NYPD reported zero protest-related arrests among tens of thousands of marchers.

The administration has spent immense energy threatening reporters with treason, revoking broadcast licenses, and closing off ways for the public to get information on what their government is doing. And the American people, unfazed, responded once again by showing up for the country, for their neighbors, and for our freedom.

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These two weeks saw the Trump administration turning its censorship program in an alarming direction, in which the tools of press suppression are being deployed during an active war. Federal agencies threatened private companies over their editorial decisions, the Pentagon blocked photographers from briefings on Iran because it didn’t like how the defense secretary looked in them, and ICE detained a journalist while she was covering immigration enforcement.

But as always, we’ve got a glimmer of hope for you; read on to see how Kari Lake’s propaganda got undermined this week.

Suppressing Press Freedom

White House Describes Investigative Journalism as “Harassment”

On March 10, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described to reporters that the New York Times’ reporting and questioning – regarding a preliminary Pentagon investigation that concluded the United States was responsible for the military strike that hit a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing an estimated 175 people – as “harassment.” Her statement came as the Times’ reporting contradicted Trump’s initial claim, made aboard Air Force One, that Iran had bombed the school itself.

ICE Detains Nashville Journalist Covering Immigration Enforcement

On March 4, ICE agents arrested Estefany María Rodríguez Florez, a Colombian-born reporter for the Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, as she and her husband arrived at a gym in South Nashville. Rodríguez Florez had been covering ICE operations in Middle Tennessee as one of her primary beats since November. She had no criminal record, was married to an American citizen, and had a pending green card application. Her attorneys argue that the arrest and ongoing detention violate the First Amendment and constitute retaliation for her reporting. A coalition of 41 press-freedom organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International USA, and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, has demanded her immediate release, calling her detention “part of a broader erosion of democratic norms.” After a federal judge ordered the government to justify her continued detention, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee filed a response on March 13 arguing that Rodríguez had overstayed a tourist visa and missed two scheduled check-ins, even though her attorneys have clearly documented that one appointment was cancelled due to a winter storm and ICE itself could not find the other in their system. A bond hearing is set for March 17, and a show-cause hearing for the following day.

Pentagon Bans Photographers From Iran War Briefings Over “Unflattering” Photos

The Defense Department barred press photographers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s briefings on the U.S.-Israeli military conflict with Iran after staff deemed photos from a prior briefing “unflattering.” Only the Pentagon’s own staff photographers have been permitted in since. The ban came as scrutiny intensified over a U.S. strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran that killed an estimated 175 people, including many schoolchildren. The National Press Club’s president called the ban “deeply troubling,” saying that “when the government decides which images the public is allowed to see, transparency is replaced by control.” The ban is the latest escalation in Hegseth’s broader campaign to restrict press access: most mainstream news organizations have left their Pentagon desks last October rather than accept restrictive rules prohibiting journalists from soliciting information the government did not authorize, being replaced by a largely right-wing press organizations who agreed to the new rules.

FCC Admits Equal Time Rule Applies to Radio — Then Refuses to Enforce It There

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s ongoing campaign to weaponize the “equal time” rule against liberal TV talk shows hit an awkward snag when critics pointed out the obvious: if the rule applies to The View and The Late Show, it also applies to conservative talk radio, where Republican candidates appear constantly. Carr acknowledged at an FCC meeting that the rule does indeed apply to radio — but said he didn’t see “any reason to similarly press radio stations.” This apparent selective enforcement points directly to what critics have argued since Carr’s campaign began: that his efforts are not about enforcing a neutral legal standard, but about using government authority to suppress critics of the administration while leaving its allies untouched. Carr also confirmed the FCC has opened an “enforcement action” against The View following a February appearance by Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico — the same week that CBS lawyers blocked Stephen Colbert from airing his Talarico interview on broadcast television.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

DHS Ousts Privacy Officers Who Refused to Hide Surveillance Records

On March 10, WIRED reported that the Department of Homeland Security removed career Customs and Border Protection privacy officials – including the agency’s top privacy officer, a privacy branch chief, and the director of CBP’s FOIA office – from their roles after they objected to orders to mislabel records about surveillance technologies and block their release under the Freedom of Information Act. The officials had been directed to treat routine privacy compliance forms, known as Privacy Threshold Analyses, as legally privileged “drafts,” which could exempt them from FOIA disclosure, despite the federal government’s longstanding acknowledgement that these are ordinary agency records subject to public release. Internal emails show DHS’s deputy FOIA chief Catrina Pavlik-Keenan writing that the forms “are NOT supposed to be released at all.” The ACLU’s Nathan Wessler called the removals an effort to “evade public scrutiny of its expanding surveillance operations,” and the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s Jeramie Scott said the career officials “were right to protest such a blanket move towards secrecy.” Ultimately, this incident demonstrates the continuation of a chilling pattern in the Trump administration: when career civil servants at DHS push back against what they believe are unlawful directives, they lose their jobs.

Researchers Sue Over “Anti-Censorship” Visa Policy and Its “Chilling Effects”

On March 9, the Coalition for Independent Technology Research filed a lawsuit in D.C. federal court challenging the administration’s policy of denying visas to (or deporting) noncitizens who work in fields including fact-checking, content moderation, and disinformation research. Filed by Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute and Protect Democracy, the suit names Secretary of State Marco Rubio, AG Pam Bondi, and outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants. The complaint documents the “chilling effects” already underway: a professor studying online harms to children has left the country; a content moderation expert has shifted to “politically neutral” research topics; another academic has stopped publishing op-eds and canceled public events. The lawsuit alleges the policy amounts to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, arguing that the administration “is engaged in a brazen and far-reaching campaign of censorship while cynically and falsely claiming that censorship is what it’s fighting.”

DOJ Revives Vendetta Against Law Firms in 24-Hour Reversal

In one of the most chaotic legal episodes of the Trump presidency, the Justice Department on March 2 told a federal appeals court it would drop its defense of executive orders targeting four law firms — Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Susman Godfrey — only to reverse itself less than 24 hours later without explanation. The firms had been sanctioned by Trump for representing his political opponents or taking on cases he disliked, with orders stripping their lawyers of security clearances, canceling government contracts, and blocking access to federal buildings. For context, four different federal judges have struck down the orders as unconstitutional, finding violations of the First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendments.

Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

FCC Approves Cable Mega-Merger With Anti-DEI Conditions

The Trump FCC rubber-stamped the merger of Charter Communications and Cox, creating the largest cable company in the United States. As a condition of approval, the merged entity committed to eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, with Charter pledging “new safeguards to protect against DEI discrimination” and promising to recruit, hire, and promote individuals based solely on “skills, qualifications, and experience.” The use of federal merger conditions to compel a corporation to dismantle programs acknowledging systemic inequality represents a new frontier, with the Trump administration now leveraging regulatory approval as a tool to enforce its ideological agenda on private companies.

The Good News 🌞

Judge Invalidates Kari Lake’s Dismantling of Voice of America.

On March 8, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Kari Lake unlawfully served as acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and that all actions she took during her tenure – including the mass layoffs of more than 1,000 journalists and staffers – are “void.” Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, found that Lake’s appointment violated both the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, writing that it represented “an unlawful effort to transform Lake into the CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media in all but name.” Under Lake’s leadership, Voice of America, which had broadcast in 49 languages and reached more than 360 million weekly listeners internationally, was reduced to broadcasting in just four languages. Lake also revoked funding from sister networks including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia. VOA journalists who brought the lawsuit said they felt “vindicated and deeply grateful,” while Reporters Without Borders celebrated the decision as proof that “fighting for press freedom matters.”

If it All Feels Like a Lot These Days… It is.

This week’s edition was a heavy one. We’re embroiled in a new war, have seen news about another detained journalist, found out that our own military’s investigation determined that it had bombed a school full of children, and all the while, we keep seeing an administration obsessively clawing for control of the images rather than accounting for its own actions.

If you made it to this part of this newsletter, you’re already doing something that matters: you’re paying attention when it would be far easier not to. That’s no small thing, and we’re very glad to have you here with us.

Take care of yourself this week. Talk to someone you love about something that has nothing to do with any of this. In the meantime, we’ll keep our eyes on what’s happening – and we’ll see you in our next edition.

You can always see the up-to-date censorship count at TrumpCensorship.com!

The Trump administration’s attempts to silence critics, control academic speech, and force private companies to operate as arms of the government continue, with escalating censorship through federal regulatory agencies, blacklisting an AI company for refusing to drop safety guardrails, and court cases over federal law enforcement’s use of facial recognition against Americans who dare to exercise their constitutional rights — while the hypocrisy of its “free speech” agenda comes into sharper focus. Meanwhile, the administration unveiled a plan to help Europeans bypass their own governments’ content moderation rules — even as it continues to silence critics at home.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Nonprofit Coalition Fights FTC’s Retaliatory Probe of Media Matters.

On February 23, seventeen nonprofit organizations — led by The Intercept’s Press Freedom Defense Fund — filed an amicus brief urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to block the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Media Matters for America. The brief argues that the FTC’s probe was launched in retaliation for Media Matters’ 2023 reporting that corporate ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content on Elon Musk’s X platform. A federal judge had already blocked the investigation in August 2025, calling it “a straightforward First Amendment violation,” but the FTC appealed. The coalition — which includes the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Reporters Without Borders USA, and the National Coalition Against Censorship — warned that the FTC’s tactic of launching pretextual investigations and keeping them open to coerce compliance “has become a troublingly common form of government intimidation.” The ACLU of D.C., FIRE, and the national ACLU also filed their own amicus brief supporting Media Matters, showing how government investigations can be weaponized to intimidate media outlets. Oral arguments are expected in April.

FTC Pressures Apple Over News Curation.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson’s February 12 letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook — warning that Apple News may violate the FTC Act by allegedly suppressing conservative publications — continued to generate criticism through the end of the month. On February 26, FIRE attorneys published a widely circulated essay calling the FTC’s position “baseless,” noting that the agency was simultaneously censoring NewsGuard, retaliating against Media Matters, and now threatening Apple’s editorial judgment. The Cato Institute’s David Inserra called it a clear case of confusing “free expression and censorship,” writing that Apple’s editorial choices are “core First Amendment territory” regardless of whether they favor liberal outlets.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

FIRE Seeks Injunction to Restore ICE Reporting Tools.

On February 27, FIRE asked a federal judge in Chicago to issue an injunction prohibiting the Trump administration from “continuing to coerce” Apple and Meta to suppress apps and social media groups that track Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. The motion comes in FIRE’s February 11 lawsuit against Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on behalf of Kae Rosado and Mark Hodges, who respectively created a Facebook group documenting ICE operations in Chicago and the “Eyes Up” app for sharing footage of ICE activity nationwide. Both platforms were removed in October 2025 after Bondi boasted to Fox News that “we reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so.”

Federal Agents Use Facial Recognition to Target Maine Residents Who Recorded ICE Operations.

On February 23, Protect Democracy filed a class-action lawsuit (Hilton v. Noem et al.) on behalf of Maine residents against DHS, ICE, CBP, and their top officials — including Secretary Kristi Noem — for using sophisticated surveillance technology to target Americans who exercised their First Amendment right to observe and record immigration operations in their communities. The named plaintiffs, Elinor Hilton and Colleen Fagan, are lifelong Maine residents who lawfully observed and recorded DHS operations in public and were threatened and labeled “domestic terrorists” as a result. The suit alleges that federal agents used facial recognition software and license plate readers to collect and catalogue personal information about observers, adding them to federal law enforcement databases solely because they engaged in constitutionally protected activity. The complaint raises four First Amendment counts and seeks a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the government’s surveillance and data collection.

Trump Bans Anthropic From Government After AI Company Refuses to Drop Safety Guardrails.

In the most dramatic example yet of the administration retaliating against a private company for exercising independent judgment, President Trump on February 27 directed every federal agency to immediately stop using technology made by AI company Anthropic, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated the company a “supply chain risk” — a penalty typically reserved for foreign adversaries. The move came after weeks of escalating conflict over Anthropic’s refusal to grant the Pentagon unrestricted use of its AI model, Claude — the first AI system to be approved for deployment on the military’s classified networks. Anthropic had requested two specific guardrails: preventing the use of its technology for mass surveillance of Americans and for fully autonomous weapons targeting without human involvement. The Pentagon rejected those conditions, demanding the right to use AI models for “all lawful purposes.” Amodei responded that the Pentagon’s efforts would not change the company’s red lines, writing that “using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values” and that “today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons.” An open letter signed by prominent tech and AI leaders warned that punishing a company for declining to change its contract “sends a clear message to every technology company in America: accept whatever terms the government demands, or face retaliation.” Trump’s own former senior AI policy adviser, Dean Ball, called the action “attempted corporate murder” and said he could no longer recommend starting an AI company in the United States.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

UNC Board Approves New Academic Freedom Definition.

On February 26, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors voted to approve a sweeping new definition of academic freedom across the state university system. While the policy states that faculty have the right to teach and research “controversial or unpopular ideas,” it also declares that “academic freedom is not absolute” — language that faculty groups warn will be used to restrict what professors can discuss in the classroom.

UT System Limits “Controversial Topics” in the Classroom.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved an initiative requiring faculty to exclude “unrelated controversial or contested matters” from syllabi and to only teach content pre-approved through course descriptions. Faculty must also pledge not to “coerce, indoctrinate, harass, or belittle students.” Brian Evans, president of the Texas AAUP chapter, warned that “a faculty member is not going to be able to talk about current events without risking being fired.” FIRE sent a letter to the Board of Regents arguing the policy amounted to censorship. The policy passed the Board without a single question from its members.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

“Freedom.gov”: Anti-Censorship Abroad, Censorship at Home.

The State Department confirmed this week that it is developing “Freedom.gov,” a web portal designed to help users in Europe and other countries bypass their governments’ content moderation rules. The site — which currently displays the message “Freedom is coming” — will reportedly include a built-in VPN allowing users to appear as though they are accessing the internet from the United States. Human Rights Watch called the project a case of “selective” free speech advocacy, noting the cruel irony: while the administration frames European content regulation as censorship, it has simultaneously pressured Apple, Meta, and Google to remove ICE-tracking apps, launched retaliatory investigations against media watchdog groups, and demanded tech companies unmask anonymous critics. Even more striking, the administration’s own foreign aid cuts defunded the very organizations that build censorship-circumvention tools and document internet shutdowns in genuinely repressive environments. As HRW’s Deborah Brown wrote, “Free expression is a fundamental right, not a prop for political theater.”

The Good News 🌞

Despite the relentless pace of censorship, the courts and civil society continue to push back — and new coalitions are forming that cross traditional ideological lines.

A federal judge’s ruling that the FTC’s investigation of Media Matters was “a straightforward First Amendment violation” is now being defended at the appellate level by a coalition of 17 nonprofit organizations, backed by a separate amicus brief from the ACLU and FIRE — showing the breadth of the free speech coalition rallying against regulatory retaliation. FIRE’s aggressive litigation strategy continues to expand: the group is now simultaneously suing the FTC on behalf of NewsGuard, challenging the government’s suppression of ICE-monitoring tools, and publicly dismantling the FTC’s legal theories against Apple News.

Protect Democracy’s new class-action suit in Maine is taking the fight directly to DHS’s surveillance apparatus, seeking a court order to halt the use of facial recognition and license plate readers against Americans engaged in constitutionally protected observation of government activity. House Democrats held the first congressional hearing dedicated specifically to the administration’s censorship campaign, creating a formal public record. Senator Ron Wyden published a widely read defense of Section 230 as the last line of defense for everyday Americans’ ability to document and share information about government activity online.

The FOIA release revealing that Americans overwhelmingly complained about government overreach — not Jimmy Kimmel — during the ABC suspension scandal showed that the public sees through the administration’s authoritarian playbook even when corporate media capitulates to it.

Yes, the country is under immense strain – but we’re not broken yet. Hang in there, and we’ll see you next week.

You can always see the up-to-date censorship count at TrumpCensorship.com!

The past two weeks of February 2026 revealed an administration increasingly focused on dismantling environmental protections, pressuring universities into ideological compliance, and continuing its onslaught on election integrity. While the headlines move fast, several developments this week signal a deep shift in how the federal government interacts with the public and how the courts are fighting back.

Language Policing

Administration to Begin Collecting Social Media Handles of Visa Applicants, Legal Immigrants, and U.S. Citizens

The Trump administration approved a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plan to collect social media handles from people applying to change their immigration status in their bid to fulfill Donald Trump’s executive order targeting vaguely-defined speech such as “hostile attitudes,” to American “culture,” and “hateful ideology.”. The new requirement, approved last week for one year, targets the more than 3 million people applying annually for work or travel authorization, green cards, or citizenship. Applicants must submit any handles used over the past five years across platforms like Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, and also messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram. The Brennan Center for Justice warns that these vague directives will create a climate of fear, chill free speech and undermine individual privacy by potentially revealing intimate personal details: in some cases, applicants will be required to provide the social media handles of their children, spouses, and parents (many of whom are U.S. citizens or otherwise already lawfully present in the country).

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

Unmasking Anonymous Online Critics

The Department of Homeland Security’s use of administrative subpoenas continues, with new reports of Google, Meta, Reddit, and Discord receiving demands for the identities of anonymous individuals who have criticized ICE operations online. The subpoenas require no judicial oversight—no judge reviews them, no probable cause is required, and targets are never notified. In one case, Google complied with a subpoena targeting student activist Amandla Thomas-Johnson, turning over not only identity information but credit card and bank account numbers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and ACLU sent an open letter urging tech companies to resist what they called the most aggressive government effort to pierce online anonymity in decades.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

Trump Threatens Netflix Over Former NatSec Advisor Susan Rice

President Trump warned Netflix to remove Democratic foreign policy expert Susan Rice from its board or “face the consequences,” on social media, reacting to an X post by alt-right provocateur Laura Loomer. Trump called Rice, who served in the Obama and Biden administrations, a “political hack” with “no talent or skills.” The threat comes at a particularly fragile time for Netflix as it seeks federal regulatory approval for an $83 billion deal to acquire a large portion of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix is currently in a bidding war against Paramount Skydance, whose bid is backed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a Trump ally.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Weaponizing the Equal Time Rule

The FCC is exploring “an enforcement action” against The View after the talk-show welcomed James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas. The View has reportedly been under investigation for potentially violating the Equal Time Rule, a restriction that prevents favoritism by forcing broadcasters to provide commensurate airtime to opposing candidates. Earlier this week, CBS lawyers, citing this rule – even though a long-standing FCC exemption for late-night shows remains unchanged – blocked Stephen Colbert from airing his interview with Talarico on broadcast television. Colbert posted the interview to YouTube instead, garnering millions of views.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Even More Universities Under Fire

Following the Pentagon’s decision to sever ties with Harvard, the Army is now evaluating over 35 “moderate to high risk” universities for potential blacklisting. This list includes names like Stanford, MIT, and Yale, and places important programs such as the Army’s Bradley Fellowship – a Georgetown University public policy program that has supported hundreds of service members earning master’s degrees since 2003 – at risk of cancellation.

Furthermore, the DOJ is demanding five years of private student data from Harvard — including personal essays and faculty evaluations — leading to fears that students’ private information is being harvested for future use as a political weapon.

Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

New Rules for Voting

The House passed the SAVE America Act on February 11. If it becomes law, it will require a passport or birth certificate to register to vote nationwide. While the bill’s sponsors and President Trump claim it will prevent noncitizens from voting, the data (even from the conservative Heritage Foundation’s own research) repeatedly show that noncitizen voting is nearly non-existent. Experts warn that this could prevent millions of eligible Americans from voting because they lack these specific documents.

That said, the bill’s passage through the Senate appears increasingly unlikely. With only 50 Senators supporting the bill, ten short of the 60-vote threshold to pass, and with Senate Republicans still unwilling to torpedo the legislative filibuster, the SAVE Act has little chance of moving forward. That hasn’t deterred Trump from threatening to sign an executive order on the matter, though its enforceability would quickly run into myriad constitutional setbacks.

Other

Erasing Climate Science

On February 12, the EPA revoked a 17-year-old scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. Without it, the government loses its power to regulate carbon emissions. Already, the State of California and environmental groups have announced plans to challenge the ruling in court. This move coincides with a massive “brain drain“ at the EPA, which has seen more than 1,000 scientists being let go, the agency’s total staff dropping below 15,000 – with more cuts expected – along with the firing of the agency’s Inspector General.

The Good News

While the pace of change is rapid, the judiciary has been emerging as a more robust “bulwark” for the rule of law. As of mid-February, courts have ruled against the administration in over 200 cases. A federal judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit that sought to seize Michigan’s voter rolls, marking the third such defeat for the government after similar rejections in Oregon and California. And, in a win for free speech, a court halted the deportation of Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk, who had been targeted simply for co-writing an op-ed critical of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The judiciary is also demanding accountability from Trump administration leadership (or, former leadership): Judge Theodore Chuang ordered Elon Musk to sit for a deposition regarding the dismantling of USAID, rejecting attempts to shield him from testimony. Additionally, in Doe v. DHS, the government was forced to withdraw a retaliatory subpoena targeting a private citizen. And in Philadelphia, a George W. Bush-appointed federal judge ordered the government to restore a slavery exhibit it had pulled down earlier this year at George Washington’s former Philadelphia home. Comparing the administration to the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984, the judge explicitly stated the federal government does not have the power “to dissemble and disassemble historical truths.”

An increasing number of judges are willing to confront the administration’s aggressive new immigration enforcement tactics in the nation’s interior. U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of West Virginia ordered the immediate release of an asylum-seeking noncitizen who was seized during a traffic stop by masked, unidentifiable ICE agents driving unmarked vehicles. In his order, the Judge Goodwin explicitly ruled that the deployment of anonymous agents to conduct warrantless civil immigration arrests is a moment in which “antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening… It is an assault on the constitutional order.” He ruled that ICE’s actions violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable seizures and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

These rulings are hopeful, and they show us that when the president oversteps his legal boundaries, the lower courts remain willing and able to intervene.

If it all feels like a lot these days… it is.

It’s easy to feel weighed down by the sheer volume of news these days — especially when the steady drumbeat of shocking or frightening headlines makes us feel as if the foundations of our institutions are shifting daily. But staying informed doesn’t have to mean staying overwhelmed. One of the most effective strategies for maintaining well-being during political turmoil is setting firm boundaries on your media consumption, such as designating specific times of the day to check for updates rather than constant scrolling.

Sometimes we have to actively look hard for small wins, or focus on the things we can immediately control in our own lives and communities – and that’s okay. History shows that progress zigzags, and democratic resilience is frequently built through local community action and steady legal challenges.

Taking a break to lean into hobbies, restorative activities, or quality time with loved ones is not an act of avoidance—it is an investment in your own resilience. Hope is a practice that requires us to zoom out and see the larger picture beyond the current moment. By staying grounded in facts, connecting with support networks, and celebrating victories like those we’ve seen in the court system, we can maintain the energy we need to stay engaged for the long haul.

Yes, the country is under immense strain – but we’re not broken yet. Hang in there, and we’ll see you next week.

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The first full week of February continued the Trump administration’s assault on democratic norms, as it moved again to silence critics, rewrite civil rights history, and telegraphed a desire to conduct unprecedented election interference. From military commanders forcing troops to watch propaganda films to federal agents collecting data on government critics, the week revealed the systematic nature of authoritarian control taking root in America.

Suppressing Press Freedom

NewsGuard Sues Government Over Censorship Campaign. Media rating service NewsGuard filed a federal lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission and Chairman Andrew Ferguson. The FTC has alleged a year-long campaign to destroy the company for giving low ratings to conservative outlets like Newsmax and demanded all of NewsGuard’s documents since its 2018 founding under the guise of an “antitrust investigation.” The lawsuit claims the FTC violated the First Amendment by prohibiting media conglomerate Omnicom from contracting with news ratings services—like NewsGuard—as a condition of its merger with Interpublic Group. The FTC “is brazenly using its power not for any issue concerning trade or commerce, but rather to censor speech,” the lawsuit states. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is representing NewsGuard pro bono in the constitutional challenge.

Language Policing

VA Leadership Silences Remembrance of Slain Nurse. Veterans Affairs officials attempted to block memorial services for Alex Pretti, the VA nurse killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, with an internal email stating “local leadership was instructed to pause the memorial.” Reports emerged that VA chaplains and nurses in Massachusetts were told not to mention Pretti’s name. VA Secretary Doug Collins has refused to issue an agency wide statement acknowledging Pretti’s death, instead using social media to blame Democratic officials in Minnesota. Local VA staff held memorial services anyway, with one employee saying “somebody told our people, ‘Back off.’” The silencing campaign against honoring a murdered colleague represents a chilling example of how far the administration will go to control the narrative around its violent enforcement actions.

FAMU College of Law Censors the word “Black”. Florida A&M University law students were told they could not use the word “Black” in Black History Month event flyers, with administrators also banning “affirmative action” and “women” to comply with state anti-DEI legislation. Student organizer Aaliyah Steward called the directive “insane” given that FAMU is a Historically Black College and University. Following public outcry, the university later acknowledged it was a “staff-level error” that exceeded legal requirements, but the incident illustrates how Florida’s anti-DEI laws are chilling speech even at institutions founded to serve Black students.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Pentagon Cuts Ties with Harvard Over “Woke” Ideology. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon will sever all academic partnerships with Harvard University, calling the institution “woke” and claiming officers return with “heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting ranks.” Beginning with the 2026-27 academic year, the military will discontinue all graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs at Harvard. Hegseth, who earned a Harvard master’s degree but symbolically returned his diploma on Fox News in 2022, said the decision targets his alma mater over its campus climate and alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The move is part of a broader Trump administration assault on elite universities deemed insufficiently patriotic.

Texas University Forces Faculty Anti-”Indoctrination” Pledges. The University of Houston required faculty to sign pledges promising not to “indoctrinate” students, following a November directive from Chancellor Renu Khator. Faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences must affirm by February 10 that they understand “critical thinking” and design courses accordingly. The move stems from Texas Senate Bill 37, which overhauled higher education to increase state oversight. Faculty who refuse to sign won’t be punished but may have their syllabi reviewed by administrators. The University of Houston AAUP chapter provided “conscientious objector” language for faculty to use instead, calling the pledge requirement a “straw man” that implies guilt.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

Homeland Security Targets Tech Companies for Critic Data. TechCrunch revealed that the Department of Homeland Security has been using administrative subpoenas—which require no judicial oversight—to force tech companies to reveal identities of Trump administration critics. In at least five documented cases, DHS demanded user data from Meta and Google targeting anonymous Instagram accounts that document ICE operations, including @montcowatch in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The ACLU called it “part of a broader strategy to intimidate people who document immigration activity or criticize government actions.” In one case, DHS issued a subpoena against a retiree within five hours of him sending a critical email to a Homeland Security lawyer, and federal agents later visited his home. The subpoenas were withdrawn after legal challenges, but the chilling effect on free speech was immediate and intentional.

FBI Blocks Renee Good Investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel and senior DOJ officials ordered federal agents to halt a civil rights investigation into ICE agent Jonathan Ross’s fatal shooting of Renee Good, fearing the probe would contradict Trump’s false claims that Good “ran over” the agent. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota had obtained a warrant to examine blood spatter and bullet holes in Good’s vehicle when they received orders to stop and instead investigate whether Good had assaulted the agent or probe her grieving widow for “domestic terrorism.” The obstruction of justice led to the resignation of six senior prosecutors, including acting U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson, leaving Minnesota’s federal prosecutor office severely understaffed.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

National Park Service Censors Civil Rights History. The National Park Service temporarily removed brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument that described civil rights leader’s assassin Byron De La Beckwith as “racist,” despite his membership in both the White Citizens’ Council and the Ku Klux Klan. The edits would also remove references to Evers lying in a pool of blood after being shot. Following massive backlash, the brochures were restored, with a White House official claiming “rogue employees” made unauthorized changes. The attempted censorship follows Trump’s “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order and represents a broader effort to whitewash America’s history of racial violence.

Military Commanders Force Troops to Watch Melania Film. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation received complaints from service members at eight military bases worldwide alleging commanders pressured them to attend screenings of the $75 million “Melania” documentary. MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein said troops felt coerced when commanders designated the film as mandatory “Unit Activity Events” (UAEs). One service member wrote: “When he said ‘advised’, we know what that meant. We feel helpless to try to fight against what he is doing here.” The documentary, directed by Brett Ratner (who appears in the Epstein files), was panned by critics, but Melania Trump is expected to personally earn $27 million from the Amazon deal. The Department of Defense denied issuing directives but called the film “fantastic.”

Support ASP

Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Steve Bannon Promises ICE Will “Surround the Polls”. Trump ally Steve Bannon declared on his War Room podcast that “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November” during the 2026 midterm elections. Bannon also called for deploying the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions under the Insurrection Act to enforce voter ID requirements. The threats came after Trump called for Republicans to “nationalize” voting and “take over” elections in Democratic areas. Federal law prohibits deploying federal agents to polling places, and the plan would constitute illegal voter intimidation.

The Good News 🌞

Despite escalating authoritarian tactics, resistance continues to emerge from multiple fronts. Tech companies like Google are pushing back against “overbroad” government subpoenas seeking user data. The American Civil Liberties Union successfully defended multiple targets of government surveillance, forcing DHS to withdraw subpoenas. Federal courts continue to resist Trump’s election interference plans, with judges blocking various attempts to undermine voting rights. NewsGuard’s lawsuit, backed by FIRE, represents a significant constitutional challenge to government censorship. University faculty are organizing through AAUP chapters to resist loyalty oath requirements. Local VA staff defied orders and held memorial services for Alex Pretti anyway, showing that even within federal agencies, conscience prevails. And civil rights advocates successfully forced the National Park Service to restore historically accurate brochures about Medgar Evers, proving that rapid public pressure can still reverse authoritarian overreach.

If you appreciate our work and want to help us spread awareness of the Trump Administration’s censorship, comment, like, or restack this post and help Substack’s recommendation algorithm show it to more people. 🙏🏻☀️

This week, Americans witnessed a chilling escalation in the Trump administration’s war on dissent, as federal agents began conducting intimidating home visits against legal observers while the FBI launched criminal investigations into encrypted messaging groups used to track ICE activities. From threatening fundraising emails targeting the president’s own supporters to sophisticated facial recognition surveillance systems, the infrastructure of authoritarianism expanded rapidly across multiple fronts, culminating in the arrest of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering a church protest.

Suppression of Press Freedom

Former CNN journalist Don Lemon arrested for covering church protest. Federal agents arrested Don Lemon in Los Angeles on charges of conspiracy against religious freedom after he livestreamed an anti-ICE protest at St. Paul’s Cities Church. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the arrests, describing them as stemming from “the coordinated attack on Cities Church,” where one pastor serves as acting field director of the St. Paul ICE field office. A federal magistrate judge had previously rejected criminal complaints against Lemon, finding his journalism was protected by the First Amendment. The White House mocked Lemon’s arrest on social media, posting an image with the caption “When life gives you lemons...” and an emoji of chains. Independent journalist Georgia Fort was arrested on the same grounds, calling the action a “chilling message” to Americans.

FCC Chairman threatens talk shows with new “equal time” rules. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced new directives forcing TV networks to comply with “equal time” rules for late-night and daytime talk shows featuring political candidates. The move specifically targets shows like “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The View” that have been critical of Trump. Carr wrote on social media: “For years, legacy TV networks assumed that their late night & daytime talk shows qualify as ‘bona fide news’ programs—even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes.” Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez called the announcement “an escalation in this FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor & control speech.”

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Republican states pass record number of university censorship laws. More than half of U.S. college students now study in states with laws restricting what can be taught, according to a new PEN America report. In 2025, lawmakers in 32 states introduced 93 bills censoring higher education, with 21 enacted across 15 Republican-controlled states. The 21 enacted bills represent a record-setting year for education censorship. Fourteen of the bills contain “gag orders” that directly censor classroom speech, while others restrict tenure, faculty governance, and diversity programs. Texas A&M University announced it was ending its women’s and gender studies program under the new restrictions.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

Federal agents conduct home visits against ICE observers. Federal agents escalated intimidation tactics by visiting ICE watchers at their homes in Maine and Minnesota. Liz Eisele McLellan reported that a federal agent came to her Maine home while three cars blocked the street outside. “This is a warning,” the agent told her. “We know you live right here.” The home visits followed previous threats by masked ICE agents who warned legal observers they would be entered into a “domestic terrorist” database. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced a new email address for residents to report “intimidating or excessive behavior” by federal agents.

FBI investigates Signal groups tracking ICE operations. FBI Director Kash Patel announced investigations into Signal group chats used by Minnesota residents to share information about ICE agents’ movements. Patel told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson: “We immediately opened up that investigation because that sort of Signal chat being coordinated with individuals... if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people.” The investigation was prompted by conservative journalist Cam Higby, who claimed to have “infiltrated” Signal groups. Free speech advocates quickly criticized the investigation, with Aaron Terr of FIRE telling NBC News that sharing such information serves “legitimate reasons” including enabling “members of the public to observe and document law enforcement activity.”

Trump fundraisers threaten to send ICE after supporters. The Trump administration’s intimidation tactics reached supporters themselves through bizarre fundraising emails threatening to deploy ICE against donors who don’t respond to citizenship surveys. The Never Surrender PAC sent emails with the subject line “Are you an illegal alien?” warning: “Are you a proud American Citizen or does ICE need to come and track you down?” The threatening emails came days after ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Secret watchlists of Americans exposed. Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein revealed the existence of over a dozen secret watchlists used by DHS and the FBI to track anti-ICE and pro-Palestine protesters, despite official denials. The watchlists have codenames including Bluekey, Grapevine, Hummingbird, Reaper, Sandcastle, Sienna, Slipstream, and Sparta. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin had previously denied such databases existed. A senior intelligence official confirmed the watchlists, warning that federal agents create lists of “this social media post, that video taken of someone videoing ICE, the mere attendance at a protest” that eventually became “a list itself of criminality.”

ICE uses facial recognition to revoke Global Entry privileges. Nicole Cleland, a Target executive and Minnesota ICE observer, had her Global Entry and TSA PreCheck privileges revoked three days after a CBP agent confronted her using facial recognition technology. “He told me, ‘We have facial recognition, and we know who you are,’” Cleland recalled, even though she never left her car. Cleland filed a lawsuit against DHS, alleging the revocation was retaliation for exercising her First Amendment rights.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Despite the administration’s intimidation campaign, legal observers and journalists continue documenting federal overreach. The ACLU of Maine is investigating patterns of intimidation by federal officials, while multiple First Amendment organizations are challenging restrictions on campus speech and press freedom. Several federal judges have ruled that protesters’ and monitors’ actions “did not forcibly obstruct or impede” ICE agents’ work, finding that officers engaged in “targeted First Amendment retaliation” against observers. Robert Peck, a 67-year-old South Portland man, filed notice of intent to sue ICE and DHS after agents threatened to arrest him for “observing” their activities, demonstrating that Americans are fighting back against constitutional violations through the courts.

One week into Trump’s second year in office, the administration’s authoritarian impulses have reached new depths of absurdity and malice. Federal judges are rejecting charges against journalists for covering protests, only to watch the White House doctor arrest photos of protesters using AI. The national weather service can’t warn about ice storms because the administration fears internet memes about ICE agents. House leadership now openly supports impeaching federal judges for unfavorable rulings, while FBI Director Kash Patel purges dozens more agents for investigating Trump. As protests spread across the country following another killing by federal agents, America is witnessing a government so paranoid about its own image that it’s willing to compromise public safety warnings and manipulate photographic evidence, all while firing anyone who dares to seek accountability for its actions.

You can visualize all the censorship actions we’ve tracked under the second Trump Administration on our new dashboard at TrumpCensorship.com. We’ll be updating it every week ☀️

Suppression of Press Freedom

Trump amplifies calls for Don Lemon to face 40-year prison sentence over church protest coverage. President Trump reshared a Truth Social post calling for former CNN host Don Lemon to receive a 40-year prison sentence for covering an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church. The post compared Lemon’s journalism to elderly women allegedly given “40 years in prison for violating the FACE Act” at abortion clinics, demanding “the same kind of sentence for Don Lemon.” Trump’s amplification came as Justice Department officials threatened to charge Lemon for livestreaming the January 18 demonstration, where protesters called for the resignation of pastor David Easterwood, who also serves as the local ICE field office director. A federal magistrate judge ultimately rejected prosecutors’ bid to charge Lemon, finding his work was protected speech under the First Amendment.

Retaliation Against Perceived Critics

House Speaker endorses impeaching federal judges over unfavorable rulings. Speaker Mike Johnson declared he supports impeachment articles against federal judges James Boasberg and Deborah Boardman, claiming “extreme times call for extreme measures.” Johnson specifically targeted Boasberg for blocking Trump’s deportation plans and authorizing January 6-related subpoenas, and Boardman for sentencing would-be Kavanaugh assassin Sophie Roske to eight years instead of prosecutors’ requested 30-plus years. “I think some of these judges have gotten so far outside the bounds of where they’re supposed to operate, it would not be, in my view, a bad thing for Congress to lay down law,” Johnson said, adding he wants to “make an example of some of these egregious abuses.” The move represents a stark escalation in attacks on judicial independence, coming as threats against federal judges have spiked 327% in the Trump era.

Miami Beach police visit woman’s home over Facebook criticism of mayor. Two Miami Beach detectives questioned activist Raquel Pacheco at her home over a Facebook comment accusing Mayor Steven Meiner of “consistently call[ing] for the death of all Palestinians.” The officers warned that her comment “could probably incite somebody to do something radical” and advised her to “refrain from posting things like that.” Police Chief Wayne Jones defended the visit as necessary to “assess any potential threat,” though the Miami Herald revealed Meiner’s office first flagged Pacheco’s comment to police. Free speech groups condemned the visit, with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression calling it “blatant overreach” designed to pressure Pacheco to “cease engaging in protected political expression.” This marks the second time Meiner has drawn censorship criticism—he previously tried to terminate a movie theater’s lease for screening a documentary about the Israel-Palestine conflict.

California Governor blocked from speaking at official U.S. venue in Davos. The White House allegedly pressured organizers to cancel Gov. Gavin Newsom’s scheduled appearance at USA House, the official U.S. pavilion at the World Economic Forum, just hours after Trump criticized him in a speech. Fortune magazine confirmed it had invited Newsom to participate in a fireside chat but that “USA House determined it would not be able to accommodate the Governor’s participation.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mocked Newsom from the same stage earlier, saying the Trump administration was “coming to California” to crack down on alleged fraud. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly dismissed Newsom as a “third-rate governor” who was “frolicking around Switzerland instead of fixing the many problems he created in California,” while refusing to deny the administration’s role in the cancellation.

FBI Director Kash Patel purges dozens of agents connected to Trump investigations. Patel carried out another sweeping purge of FBI personnel this week, forcing out field office leaders and senior agents involved in investigating Trump’s classified documents case and January 6 probe. Those affected included the special agent in charge of the Atlanta field office, the acting assistant director of the New York field office, a former New Orleans special agent, and up to six Miami agents connected to the Mar-a-Lago search. The firings came days after Trump called FBI agents “total Scum” and demanded “Kash better get them out, NOW!” Patel responded that the bureau had already “terminated their employment” of “corrupt actors,” declaring “America voted for the end of weaponized law enforcement.” The FBI Agents Association has sued over the politically motivated terminations, calling them improper in the absence of misconduct evidence.

FBI agent investigating Renee Good shooting resigns over pressure to drop probe. Tracee Mergen, a supervisor in the FBI’s Minneapolis field office, resigned after being ordered to stop investigating ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot Renee Good on January 7. Mergen had opened a civil rights investigation into the shooting but was pressured by FBI headquarters to reclassify it as an investigation into an assault on the officer instead. The FBI also blocked the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced there was “no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation” into Good’s killing, despite video evidence that appears to contradict the administration’s self-defense narrative.

State-Sponsored Intimidation

White House posts AI-altered photo of protester to make her appear to be crying. The official White House account shared a digitally manipulated image of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong’s arrest, adding fake tears and darkening her skin tone to make her appear distraught while being detained. The doctored photo was posted 30 minutes after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shared the original image showing Armstrong with a calm, neutral expression. When asked for comment, the White House sent reporters a link to deputy communications director Kaelan Dorr’s post declaring: “Enforcement of the law will continue. The memes will continue.” Armstrong was arrested for organizing a peaceful protest at Cities Church, where demonstrators objected to pastor David Easterwood’s role as the local ICE field director. Armstrong told CNN that the FBI agent filming her arrest “said, ‘Oh, it’s not going to go on Twitter or anything,’” contradicting the White House’s subsequent social media use.

Language Policing

Federal emergency workers banned from using word “ice” in storm warnings over meme fears. The Department of Homeland Security ordered FEMA to avoid using the word “ice” in public messaging about winter storms due to fears of internet mockery of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. DHS officials worried that phrases like “watch out for ice” could become viral memes amid negative headlines about ICE agents killing civilians in Minnesota. “If FEMA says, ‘Keep off the roads if you see ice,’ it would be easy for the public to meme it,” one source told CNN. The directive came as a major ice storm affected over 2,000 miles across 35 states, potentially compromising public safety messaging during dangerous weather conditions. A FEMA spokesperson called the reporting “a desperate ploy for clickbait,” insisting the agency would “use correct and accurate descriptors of weather conditions.”

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Federal judges continue to reject the administration’s overreach, with a magistrate judge refusing to sign charges against Don Lemon for covering the church protest, finding his journalism was protected by the First Amendment. The same judge found “no probable cause” for several charges against other protesters, forcing prosecutors to scramble during hearings when they couldn’t even provide arrest warrants to defendants’ attorneys. These judicial pushbacks mirror broader patterns of resistance: the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office’s criminal complaints faced a 21% dismissal rate of over eight weeks, compared to a mere 0.5% dismissal rate over the prior 10 years, according to a federal magistrate judge’s scathing October opinion calling the statistics “shocking.”

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Today, we’re launching TrumpCensorship.com, a new public resource that visualizes one year of censorship actions taken by the Trump Administration against journalists, public servants, researchers, and the American people. This site brings together a year’s worth of weekly monitoring into a single, interactive dataset that makes it impossible to ignore the administration’s systematic attacks on free expression.

Why we built TrumpCensorship.com

Since the start of President Trump’s second term, our team has documented more than 200 distinct censorship incidents: efforts to suppress press freedom, punish perceived critics, chill academic research, and unwind civil rights protections. These episodes can feel isolated in the daily news cycle; viewed together, they form a clear pattern of government interference with core democratic freedoms. Far from defending free speech, the Trump Administration is undermining it.

Visualizing the data allows every American to see the consistent actions the Trump administration has taken against their core democratic rights. Cataloguing this data is important as we live through an administration that attempts to erase history and suppress dissent, and as it works to normalize retaliation and information control as tools of governance.

What the dataset shows

TrumpCensorship.com organizes censorship incidents into key categories: suppression of press freedom, retaliation against perceived critics and whistleblowers, crackdowns on academic freedom and research, the dismantling of long-standing civil rights protections, and more. Each record is annotated with source documentation and contextual notes, creating a longitudinal resource for journalists, researchers, advocates, and concerned citizens.

The site allows visitors to explore how censorship has evolved over time and across institutions, tracing how federal agencies, political events, and media ecosystems are being reshaped by the administration’s actions.

From “Last Week in Censorship” to a living archive

TrumpCensorship.com is built on the same monitoring that powers our weekly “Last Week in Censorship” series here on Substack, which has chronicled the administration’s speech-suppressing behavior week after week.

By aggregating that work into a single, interactive resource, we are creating a living archive of the Trump Administration’s attempts to control information and silence dissent. The site will be updated weekly alongside the newsletter so readers can move seamlessly between written and visual analysis.

How the public can use TrumpCensorship.com

TrumpCensorship.com is designed to be useful: for reporters filing stories on authoritarian tactics, for researchers tracking democratic erosion, for civil society groups preparing oversight and litigation, and for everyday Americans trying to understand what is happening in their own country. The data can help identify patterns across agencies, highlight moments of escalation, and ground debates about “free speech” in documented government behavior rather than rhetoric.

Keeping the lights on in a darkening information environment

Your donations—not a large foundation or wealthy person—funded this work. Independent monitoring like TrumpCensorship.com requires resources to maintain, update, expand, and improve. There are two ways you can support us:

Paid Substack subscriptions fuel our weekly research, data curation, and in-depth analysis. Consider upgrading today:

Subscribe now

One-time or monthly donations directly sustain our team and tools for projects like this.

Donate Today

Your support keeps the (sun)light on, ensuring we can document what others try to erase.

The American Sunlight Project exists to increase the cost of lies that undermine democracy. This new tracker reflects that mission: it is a tool for transparency, accountability, and public memory at a moment when all three are under sustained attack.

TrumpCensorship.com is now live. Explore the data, share it widely, and help us build the definitive record of this administration’s censorship.

With gratitude,
Nina & Team ASP ☀️

👀 Stay tuned for a special launch on Wednesday 👀

The Trump administration's assault on free expression has entered a new phase of direct intimidation: criminal investigations of governors and mayors for criticizing ICE’s brutality, FBI raids on reporters' homes, and threats to sue news networks for standard editorial practices. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are resigning en masse rather than investigate the widow of an Renee Good, and attorneys general are ordering nonprofits to scrub reproductive health information from their websites. Welcome to the third week of 2026, where exercising your First Amendment rights can land you under federal investigation.

Suppressing Press Freedom

White House threatens to “sue your ass off” if CBS edits Trump interview. After President Trump’s Tuesday interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt approached CBS staff with a direct threat: “He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full. If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off,’” according to audio obtained by The New York Times. The threat follows Trump’s $16 million settlement with CBS’s parent company Paramount over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris that the network edited. Legal observers had predicted that lawsuit would be dismissed due to industry norms around interview editing, but Paramount settled over concerns it could jeopardize regulatory approval for its sale to Skydance.

FBI raids Washington Post reporter’s home, seizes devices in unprecedented move. FBI agents searched the Virginia home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson Wednesday, seizing her phone, two computers and a Garmin watch as part of a leak investigation. Natanson covers the federal workforce and had received tips from over 1,000 federal workers through encrypted Signal messages about the Trump administration’s government overhaul. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said the Justice Department had “never executed a search warrant at the home of a reporter in a national security leak case” until now. Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged Natanson was “obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor,” though courts have repeatedly upheld journalists’ rights to report on leaked documents.

Trump threatens to sue JPMorgan Chase over post-January 6 “debanking.” President Trump announced Saturday that he will sue JPMorgan Chase “over the next two weeks” for “incorrectly and inappropriately DEBANKING me after the January 6th Protest.” Trump claimed in August that JPMorgan and Bank of America “discriminated against me very badly” by closing his accounts after January 6, 2021, though the bank denies closing accounts based on political beliefs. JPMorgan spokesperson Trish Wexler said “we don’t close accounts because of political beliefs” and that “we appreciate that this Administration has moved to address political debanking and we support those efforts.” The threat comes as Trump signed an executive order in August requiring banks to ensure they don’t refuse financial services based on religious or political beliefs.

Justice Department opens criminal investigation of Minnesota governor and Minneapolis mayor. The DOJ is investigating Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged “conspiracy to impede federal immigration agents,” according to multiple sources. The investigation stems from statements the Democratic leaders made criticizing the thousands of ICE officers deployed to Minneapolis following the killing of Renee Good. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X: “Walz and Frey- I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.” The probe represents a highly politicized federal criminal case based on public officials’ protected speech about government policies and state violence.

At least 11 federal prosecutors resign rather than investigate ICE victim’s widow. Six prosecutors in Minnesota and five in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division resigned after being pressured to investigate Becca Good, the widow of Renee Good, for ties to activist groups—protected First Amendment activity. Rather than examining whether the ICE agent’s actions were lawful, senior Justice Department officials pushed to investigate Good’s widow, prompting the mass resignations.

“Seditious Six” Democrats under criminal investigation for constitutional video. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has opened criminal investigations into six Democratic lawmakers who posted a video reminding military members they can refuse illegal orders under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) found out about the probe when Pirro’s office asked to interview her “because of” the 90-second video. All six lawmakers—military veterans or intelligence officers—are now under investigation after Trump called their video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” Slotkin reported receiving over 1,000 threats including bomb threats at her home and requiring 24/7 Capitol Police protection.

North Dakota orders abortion fund to remove medication links from website. Attorney General Drew Wrigley issued a cease-and-desist order against Prairie Abortion Fund, ordering the Fargo nonprofit to stop linking to websites where abortion pills can be purchased without a prescription. Wrigley claimed the links violate consumer protection laws by facilitating access to “counterfeit, unapproved, untested, misbranded or misrepresented products.” The Bureau of Criminal Investigation purchased abortion pills from two businesses listed on the fund’s website, with laboratory testing finding “at least some of the tablets contained the represented content mifepristone.” North Dakota has banned virtually all abortions and requires doctors to be physically present when abortion medications are administered.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

The Senate unanimously passed the DEFIANCE Act this week, landmark legislation that would allow victims of nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes to sue their creators for up to $150,000. The bill’s passage came as Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot faced international backlash for generating sexualized images of women and children, with Indonesia and Malaysia banning the service and the UK launching a formal investigation. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who sponsored the bipartisan bill with Lindsey Graham (R-SC), noted that 96% of deepfake videos are nonconsensual pornography, with such content increasing ninefold since 2019 and garnering nearly four billion views. “It’s time to give victims their day in court and the tools they need to fight back,” Durbin said. The House version is sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with strong bipartisan support, offering hope that meaningful protections for digital abuse victims could finally become law despite the broader assault on civil liberties.

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In the second week of the new year, the Trump administration’s censorship crusade has continued at speed: The National Portrait Gallery removed references of Trump’s impeachments from its museum, universities continue to order the removal of “race and gender ideology” from their courses, and the House subpoenaed a reporter over news coverage of the US military’s actions in Venezuela.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Plato declared “woke” at Texas University. Texas A&M University leaders have flagged or canceled at least 200 courses due to race or gender-related content, including Plato (a known “woke” activist from 400 BC). This action is part of a university system-wide, board-mandated review of all academic curriculums, which required all professors to submit their syllabi for review. University faculty reported that the review has led to censorship of course material, as well as implicit threats of disciplinary action for teaching prohibited content. Philosophy professor Martin Peterson was presented with a choice in an email from her department chair: Eliminate course modules addressing race and gender ideology, including Plato readings, or be reassigned to a different philosophy class.

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Smithsonian National Gallery removes text noting Trump’s impeachments. The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery removed wall text noting Trump’s two impeachments when it replaced his portrait in the “America’s Presidents” exhibition. The original text contained Trump’s biography, including factual information about his two impeachments and acquittal by the senate in both trials. The Trump Administration alleged this as evidence of bias by the museum’s former director despite prior presidential impeachments being noted with presidents’ respective portraits.

Texas Congressman tells protesters to “quit demonstrating” after ICE shootings kill woman, wound two. Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) appeared on NewsNation on January 9, 2026, and said “People need to quit demonstrating, quit yelling at law enforcement, challenging law enforcement, and begin to get civil.” His comments came after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37, in Minneapolis on January 7 during an immigration enforcement operation and federal agents shot two people in Portland, Oregon on January 8. The right to protest is enshrined in the First Amendment.

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Suppression of Press Freedom

House Oversight Committee votes to subpoena reporter. Journalist Seth Harp reported on the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, posting a photo and publicly available biography of one of the Delta Force commanders involved. Representative Anna Paulina Luna accused Harp of “doxing” the officer and leaking classified information. Harp denied this accusation, citing that all information reported on was public and identifying military figures is protected under the First Amendment. Legal experts warned that compelling a journalist to testify threatens press freedom and that naming officials in major events is constitutionally permitted.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

The killing of Renee Good sparked an extraordinary nationwide uprising that demonstrated Americans’ refusal to accept state violence in silence. Despite the White House and federal agencies showcasing their contempt for reality by attempting to spin Good’s murder, within hours, protests erupted in all 50 states. From massive demonstrations in Minneapolis where thousands marched, to Fairbanks where over 100 people gathered despite extreme cold, to Nebraska where protesters declared “we are living under authoritarian rule,” Americans from all walks of life have stood up against state violence. Most powerfully, the protests revealed what Becca Good, Renee’s widow, captured in her statement: while ICE had guns, the community had whistles, solidarity, and an unbreakable commitment to protecting each other. Even as Rep. Roger Williams demanded people “quit demonstrating,” millions of Americans responded by taking to the streets to prove that no amount of censorship or threats can silence a population united against injustice.

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The holiday season brought no respite from the Trump administration's assault on free expression. As Americans prepared to celebrate, the government sanctioned international judges so thoroughly that one can't even use Alexa anymore. The president demanded $10 billion from the BBC for a documentary that never aired in America—using VPN statistics as "evidence" that someone, somewhere, might have watched it. Meanwhile, the Defense Department launched proceedings to strip a sitting senator of his military rank for posting a video about constitutional rights. Welcome to 2026, where reaching out for comment is "stalking," informing people of their rights is "sedition," and the word "women" is too dangerous for government documents.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Trump files $10 billion lawsuit against BBC for documentary that never aired in U.S. President Trump sued the BBC in Florida for $10 billion over a January 6th documentary shown only in the UK, claiming the network defamed him byediting together two sentences from his speech that were 55 minutes apart. The lawsuit’s “evidence” of Florida viewership relies on VPN usage statistics, arguing that a 1,000% increase in VPN use means Floridians must be circumventing geo-blocks to watch BBC content. Despite the BBC apologizing, holding leadership responsible, promising never to show the documentary again, and softening its portrayal of Trump since, he sued anyway. Florida defamation law limits damages to actual harm when a correction is issued—which the BBC did—making the astronomical demand particularly absurd given Trump won the election and suffered seemingly no damage.

Trump says broadcast licenses should be terminated for “100% negative” coverage. The president declared on Truth Social that TV networks should lose their licenses if their coverage is “almost 100% Negative” about him, specifically targeting CBS after criticizing Stephen Colbert as a “pathetic trainwreck” and demanding CBS “put him to sleep, NOW.” Trump asked FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to revoke licenses for networks covering him negatively, despite the FCC’s own rules stating “Broadcasters – not the FCC or any other government agency – are responsible for selecting the material they air” and that “The First Amendment and the Communications Act expressly prohibit the Commission from censoring broadcast matter.”

ProPublica reporters accused of “stalking” and “intimidation” for seeking comment. Government officials are attacking journalists for basic reporting practices, with the Department of Education calling it “borderline intimidation” when reporters sent letters to officials’ homes after months of unanswered inquiries. VA Secretary Doug Collins publicly accused a ProPublica reporter of “stalking” an employee after the journalist knocked on their door to request an interview—a standard practice protected by the First Amendment. The North Carolina GOP threatened ProPublica over a story about the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice, warning they would contact the Trump administration and “strongly suggest dropping this story.” Education spokesperson Madison Biedermann declared: “You are not entitled to a response from us, or anyone, ever.”

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Trump Administration revokes the visas of European disinformation researchers. Disinformation researchers and tech regulators from the U.K., Germany, and Belgium had their visas revoked by the State Department just before Christmas based on false claims that they have “censored” Americans online. The so-called “censorship industrial complex” conspiracy theory falsely claims that academic institutions, NGOs, tech platforms, and members of the Biden Administration teamed up to remove disfavorable conservative-leaning viewpoints from social media. In coverage of these revocations, The New York Times noted a “federal lawsuit based on that [censorship] claim, brought by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana, reached the Supreme Court last year, but the court dismissed it on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not demonstrate any government actions that caused them harm,” with Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett authoring the opinion.

U.S. sanctions lock ICC judges out of daily life. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, sanctioned for authorizing an investigation into U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan, can no longer use credit cards orAmazon’s Alexa, order Ubers, book hotels, or send money to family. The Trump administration has sanctioned six ICC judges plus prosecutors this year for either the Afghanistan investigation or issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. As a U.S. company, Amazon canceled Prost’s account entirely; banks won’t process her transfers; online shopping is “excruciatingly difficult, if not impossible.” The sanctions effectively punish judges’ staff and their families too—one colleague’s daughter had her U.S. visa revoked. Prost calls it “an attack on the independence of the judiciary,” noting the psychological impact of being on the same sanctions list as terrorists and organized crime figures.

Pentagon threatens to court-martial Senator Mark Kelly over “seditious” video. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated proceedings to reduce Sen. Mark Kelly’s military rank and retirement pay after Kelly participated in a video reminding service members they can refuse illegal orders. Hegseth issued a formal censure calling Kelly’s conduct “seditious” and warning of potential criminal prosecution for “further violations.” Kelly, a retired Navy captain and astronaut who flew 39 combat missions and four space missions, responded: “Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way. It’s outrageous and it is wrong.” The video was made after U.S. airstrikes killed scores of purported drug smugglers.

CISA acting director fails polygraph test; career staff who administered it suspended. At least six career cybersecurity officials were placed on administrative leave after acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala failed a polygraph test required to access highly classified intelligence. DHS called the test “unsanctioned” and opened an investigation into whether staff “misled” Gottumukkala about needing the test, though officials note principals typically approve their own polygraph requests. One official called DHS’s claim “comical,” while another described Gottumukkala’s tenure as “a nightmare,” saying “Instead of taking ownership and saying, ‘Hey, I screwed up,’ he gets other people blamed and potentially ruins their careers.” Nearly a third of CISA’s workforce has departed in 2025 amid the turmoil.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

National security lawyer Mark Zaid recently won a legal battle against the Trump administration after a federal judge ordered the reinstatement of his security clearance, revoking the administration’s prior attempt to strip it as unconstitutional political retaliation for representing whistleblowers, including the one central to Trump’s first impeachment. A judge ruled that the government’s summary revocation violated Zaid’s rights and blocked the Trump administration’s broader campaign against lawyers representing clients adverse to it.

Similarly, Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate and one of the five counter-disinformation advocates targeted by the Trump administration’s Christmas visa ban, was granted a restraining order until March, preventing the Trump administration from deporting him. He is a green card holder and his wife and child are American.

Happy New Year from an administration that celebrates the season by making sure international judges can’t order Christmas presents online and Senators can’t quote the Constitution without risking court-martial. Here’s to 2026!

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This week showcased a number of Orwellian encroachments on free expression by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security announced it would investigate a mayor-elect for the “crime” of explaining constitutional rights; the State Department is now demanding five years of social media history from tourists; Head Start programs were ordered to erase words like “disability” and “women” from funding applications, even when federal law requires using those exact terms; and when a journalist asked the Pentagon hard-hitting questions about a senior adviser, the Department of Defense responded with threats to expose the reporter’s personal life.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Pentagon coordinates with right-wing influencer to threaten journalist investigating Hegseth advisor. Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman received threatening emails from MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec after asking the Pentagon questions about Eric Geressy, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s senior advisor who leads a team reviewing women’s role in the armed forces. Friedman had discovered a Goodreads account linked to Geressy’s email featuring explicit books about “Asian wife sharing” alongside Hegseth’s works. After Friedman sent questions to the Pentagon about this and a domestic violence charge against Geressy, Posobiec—now part of the Pentagon press corps—emailed Friedman asking if he had a “creepy fetish for Asian women,” giving him the exact same deadline Friedman had given the Pentagon. The Goodreads page disappeared the day after Friedman’s inquiry, and Friedman interpreted Posobiec’s message as an “apparent threat.”

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Homeland Security threatens investigation of NYC Mayor-elect for explaining constitutional rights. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could be “violating the Constitution” by posting a video informing migrants they can refuse ICE entry without a judicial warrant. “We’re certainly going after and looking into all of that with coordination of the Department of Justice,” Noem told Fox News, claiming Mamdani “could be violating the Constitution by giving advice on how to evade law enforcement.” Mamdani’s video simply explained that ICE cannot enter homes without a judicial warrant signed by a judge, that people have the right to remain silent, and can ask if they’re free to go—all established constitutional rights. Mamdani defended the video, saying “I can’t think of a more American thing to do than to speak about the protections that we all have under the law.” The threats echo similar DOJ investigations of six congressional Democrats who posted videos noting that military service members can refuse illegal orders.

U.S. to require tourists from visa-free countries to submit five years of social media history. The Trump administration proposed new rules requiring visitors from 42 visa waiver countries—including Britain, Australia, France, and Japan—to provide five years of social media activity to enter the U.S. A notice shows Customs and Border Protection will make social media a “mandatory data element” for Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) applications, along with ten years of email addresses, five years of phone numbers, and biometric data. Digital rights groups condemned the requirement, with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression warning it “sends the message that the American commitment to free speech is pretense, not practice.”

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Head Start programs ordered to remove “disability,” “women,” “Black” from funding applications. Federal officials are requiring Head Start centers to delete nearly 200 words from funding requests or face denial, according to court documents filed December 5. The banned list includes “accessible,” “belong,” “Black,” “disability,” “female,” “minority,” “trauma,” “tribal,” and “women”—terms that appear throughout the federal Head Start Act itself. A Wisconsin program director testified under pseudonym that HHS sent back her funding application with a list titled “Words to limit or avoid in government documents,” putting her in an “impossible situation” since federal law requires programs to create “inclusive and accessible classrooms for children with disabilities.” The ban emerged through an ongoing lawsuit where Head Start programs argue the Trump administration’s DEI prohibition conflicts with statutory mandates to provide “linguistically and culturally appropriate” services and early intervention for disabled children. Disability advocates called the ban “morally repugnant and a violation of federal law,” noting many programs receive funding specifically to identify and support children with disabilities.

We want to thank you all for your support this year. We’re taking the next few weeks off and will be back in January. Wishing you a peaceful holiday season and happy new year. ✨

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The first week of December marked a chilling escalation in the Trump administration’s systematic assault on dissent. The White House launched a public portal soliciting citizens to report on journalists for “bias” and the State Department began screening visa applicants for any history of content moderation work. All the while, the FBI moved to unmask anonymous archivists while Kash Patel fired agents for a five-year-old photo. All of these actions seek to suppress free expression while also exposing private citizens and journalists for doing their jobs.

Suppressing Press Freedom

White House launches “Media Bias Portal” encouraging citizens to report journalists. The Trump administration unveiled a new system on December 2 asking Americans to submit “biased or undeniably false articles,” with submissions used to populate the administration’s “Media Bias Portal.” The White House explicitly framed this as combating “baseless lies, purposely omitted context, and outright left-wing lunacy of the Fake News Media,” declaring that “the days of the Fake News Media controlling the narrative with lies, fake anonymous sources, and willful bias are over.” The portal effectively crowdsources surveillance and harassment of journalists, creating a government-run database of media criticism that experts warn will lead to harassment and intimidation of reporters whose work displeases the administration.

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

State Department orders H-1B visa officers to reject applicants with “censorship” work history. The Trump administration announced enhanced vetting December 3 for H-1B visa applicants, with a State Department cable ordering consular officers to review LinkedIn profiles and employment histories for any work in “misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety.” The December 2 cable explicitly states: “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protected expression in the United States, you should pursue a finding that the applicant is ineligible.” The directive applies to both applicants and their family members, targeting tech workers who the cable says frequently work at “social media or financial services companies involved in the suppression of protected expression.”

ICEBlock developer sues Trump administration after app removed under government pressure. Joshua Aaron, creator of the ICE-tracking app ICEBlock, filed a federal lawsuit December 8 against Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials, alleging First Amendment violations after Apple removed his app following direct government demands. Bondi had publicly boasted: “We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store—and Apple did so.” The app, which had over 1 million users, allowed people to report ICE sightings within a 5-mile radius similar to how Waze alerts drivers to speed traps. Aaron’s lawsuit argues that government officials “crossed constitutional lines” by pressuring a private company to suppress speech, noting this appears to be “the first time in Apple’s nearly fifty-year history” it removed a U.S.-based app due to government pressure.

Retaliation Against Critics

FBI Director Kash Patel sued for firing agents who kneeled during 2020 George Floyd protests. Twelve former FBI agents filed a lawsuit December 8 against Patel for terminating them over a photo showing them kneeling during a June 2020 protest in Washington, DC. The agents say they made a “tactical decision” to kneel to de-escalate a hostile crowd that outnumbered them, successfully dispersing the protesters without violence. Internal FBI investigations in 2020 concluded the agents committed no Hatch Act violations and acted “apolitically and tactically.” But after Patel became director in February 2025, he circumvented FBI processes to fire them, with termination letters claiming they demonstrated “unprofessional conduct and a lack of impartiality” leading to “political weaponization of government.” The lawsuit alleges the firings came directly from the White House because the agents were perceived as “not affiliated with President Trump.”

☀️ Today at noon, our Geolocation Workshop! ☀️

Join us here on Substack Live at 12:00pm EST for our Geolocation Workshop!

This session is a beginner-friendly introduction to geolocation—the skill of figuring out where a photo or video was taken using only the visual clues inside the image. We’ll walk through how it works, why it’s such a powerful tool for verification and research, and then practice together with a series of simple, collaborative challenges. No prior OSINT experience is needed: if you can notice details, ask questions, and enjoy puzzles, you’ll be able to participate. By the end, you’ll understand the basic workflow of geolocation and how it helps journalists, researchers, and everyday users make sense of the visual information they encounter online.

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As November comes to a close, controversies around the media and free speech are piling up. The Trump administration has redefined human rights violations, intimidated foreign media outlets into self-censorship, and opened investigations into sitting Congressmen.

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

State Department issues new guidance on human rights violations. The U.S. Department of State issued new guidelines to diplomats and U.S. embassies that countries with DEI laws, state-sponsored abortion care, certain migration policies, gender-affirming care for children, and even hate-speech or internet safety laws will be flagged as human rights violations. These new labels will be included in the State Department’s annual global humans-rights report. Critics argue the new guidance represents a radical redefinition of human rights, attacking long established international standards and targeting specific groups. But the Trump administration asserts the new guidelines address “destructive ideologies”.

Suppression of Press Freedom

BBC accused of self-censoring Trump criticism. Dutch Historian Rutger Bregman said that his comment declaring Trump as “the most openly corrupt President in American history” was removed before his lecture was broadcast. The lecture was part of Bregman’s series “Moral Revolution”, which critiques the cowardice of today’s elites and draws parallels to past eras of corruption. The BBC responded they had removed the line on the advice of lawyers but did not clarify if it had any relation to the recent legal threat where Trump threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion. Bregman did note, however, that the BBC said this would not have occurred 3 months ago, leading Bregman to “feel quite confident in saying they are bending the knee to authoritarianism.” This underscores the Trump’s administration’s threats to influence foreign media.

Retaliation Against Critics

Unprecedented FBI inquiry into Democratic lawmakers.. The six Democrats that filmed a video reminding troops that it is within their right to disobey illegal orders now may be under FBI investigation. In a joint statement, Representatives Jason Crow of Colorado and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania stated, “President Trump is using the FBI as a tool to intimidate and harass Members of Congress,” noting that “the FBI contacted the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms requesting interviews.” The FBI’s request for interviews with congressional security offices usually left up to the Department of Justice and the Office of the General Counsel, making this outreach unusual. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is reportedly launching a separate investigation into Mark Kelly, who as a retired service member, may face court-martial. Lawmakers argue the actions represent political intimidation aimed at suppressing dissent.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

The Department of Homeland Security has dropped its subpoena of Meta that sought to unmask anonymous instagram users who recorded recent ICE raids in Los Angeles, including the account LBProtest. The withdrawal came after the ACLU filed a lawsuit in a federal court where they argued the subpoena violated the First Amendment. The university stressed that recording and posting the actions of law enforcement in public, even anonymously, is constitutionally protected. After the withdrawal, ACLU called this a major win for online free speech and for the right to document government conduct.

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🌍 Geolocation Workshop 🌍

Learn how researchers use everyday clues—street signs, landmarks, and even snowdrifts—to pinpoint where a photo was taken. We’ll unwrap the basics of geolocation so you can follow Santa’s trail across the globe with real OSINT techniques. By the end, you’ll see how a single image can reveal a world of hidden information—no reindeer required.

Join us for this holiday-themed workshop on December 9th at 12:00pm, right here on Substack Live!

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this week delivered a cascade of clashes between the Trump administration and journalists, lawmakers, and researchers. The President attacked journalists who questioned him, threatened Democratic lawmakers after they posted a video reminding service members of their rights, and continued injecting partisan heat into media company acquisitions and extremism research.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Senator Rand Paul demands academic research be handed over to the Senate. The Senate Homeland Security Committee, which is chaired by Senator Rand Paul, has demanded in a letter that research centers focused on political extremism hand over extensive documents as far back as January 2020. The requested records include communications, reports, data, and funding details related to topics such as the January 6th attack, the 2020 election, vaccine mandates, and “Trump supporters.” According to researchers, the letter lists over 300 terms focused on right-wing or pro-Trump issues, with only two relating to left-wing movements. This move constitutes a tacit threat to academic freedom that could slow or halt research into far-right extremism, and mirrors attacks on disinformation researchers over the past three years.

Suppression of Press Freedom

CNN may axe hosts Trump loathes amid acquisition. Senior officials at the White House have reportedly discussed favoring Paramount in its bid to acquire Warner Bros. As part of lobbying for the merger led by billionaire Larry Ellision, a major shareholder in Paramount, there were informal discussions about cutting certain CNN hosts that Trump is said to loathe. A similar chain of events took place when Paramount completed a merger earlier this year, resulting in CBS news installing a government-approved “bias monitor”, flagrantly disproving Trump’s hollow claims that he ‘brought back free speech.’

JD Vance demands that Bezos install Breitbart staff at the Washington Post. In a move that reeks infinitely of hypocrisy, Vice President Vance texted Jeff Bezos demanding he install Breitbart White House Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle to lead the Washington Post’s political coverage. According to the Daily Beast, while Bezos did not comply with Vance’s demand, “The Post has come under fire for what has been seen as a move to the right in its editorial stance, and there has been an exodus of experienced journalists and opinion writers.”

Retaliation Against Critics

Trump calls for Democratic lawmakers to face trial. Last Thursday, six Democratic lawmakers published a video for U.S. service members, arguing that the administration’s deployment of the National Guard to U.S. cities constituted an illegal overreach and reminded members they are obligated to disobey unlawful commands. Trump demanded that each of these “traitors” should be “arrested and put on trial” via Truth Social, accusing them of “seditious behavior at the highest level.” He escalated his rhetoric on Truth Social when he reposted messages that endorsed hanging the lawmakers and declared such conduct was “punishable by death.” The White House defended Trump’s remarks while Democratic leaders condemned them as “dangerous death threats”.

Trump berates the press twice over questions. The first instance was directed at Mary Bruce of ABC News, whom President Trump sharply rebuked in the Oval Office as she asked Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the ordered assasination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Trump called her question “horrible” and downplayed Khashoggi’s murder by saying “things happen” and how many people “didn’t like him.” He then further attacked ABC News as a “crappy company” and suggested that its broadcast license be revoked. The confrontation followed after an episode just days prior aboard Air Force One, when Trump told reporter Catherine Lucey from Bloomberg, “quiet, piggy,” after her inquiry on why Trump had released the Epstein files yet.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

David Maltinsky, and F.B.I. agent in training, was fired over a pride flag in his office earlier this year. He filed a lawsuit this past Wednesday against FBI Director Kash Patel and the FBI, claiming the firing was illegal and requesting to be reinstated. In recognition for his work in 2021, the lawsuit details that Matlinsky was awarded with the pride flag from the assistant agent in charge of the Los Angeles field office, which had flown for the entire month prior outside on the office grounds. For the next 4 years, the flag was displayed on the wall of Maltinsky’s work space among several other trinkets.

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As November winds into its second week, Indiana University is back in the spotlight over yet another clash involving campus free speech limits. Meanwhile, President Trump is labelling critics “traitors” following initial releases of the Epstein files which exposed his ties to Epstein. To top it off, Trump has now threatened a lawsuit against the BBC for their documentary on the January 6th insurrection, broadening his assault on media freedom beyond American borders.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Indiana University removes professor from class over lecture graphic. After a professor showed a graphic that labeled “Make America Great Again” as covert white supremacy, she was removed from class. The professor’s lesson was reported by a student to Senator Jim Banks, a known Trump ally, who then contacted the university. The lesson was cited to challenge a new Indiana law meant to foster “intellectual diversity.” The professor stated in an interview she taught the lesson as she feels “this is an important issue to talk about — censorship, stifling of academic freedom and this real overreach through this legislation.”

Retaliation Against Critics

Trump attacks Marjorie Taylor Greene for Epstein criticism. Greene has recently questioned whether Trump was putting “America first” and openly criticized his handling of the Epstein files. This led to Trump calling Greene “wacky” and a traitor, and proclaiming that she should be unseated in the 2026 midterms. Greene has reported significant online and offline harassment following Trump labelling her a “traitor,” including credible bomb threats and threats of violence.

Trump threatens to sue BBC over January 6th documentary. President Trump threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion, claiming a Panorama documentary used “malicious, disparaging” edits of his January 6th, 2021 speech. The threat came in a letter from Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito, which was obtained by The New York Times. The letter demanded a full retraction, an apology, compensation, and warned that if the BBC did not comply, Trump would pursue legal action pursuing at least $1 billion in damages. Sir Ed Davey, a member of the UK Parliament, warns the BBC against complying with compensation and states, “the idea of having a head of a foreign government undermining public institutions is quite outrageous.” The controversy intensified after BBC Director General Tim Davis resigned amid pressure over the documentary’s editing. The BBC acknowledged the letter and apologized, admitting the edits wrongly gave the impression that Trump had directly called for violence. Politico EU highlights how this is Trump’s first notable battle with a non-American media platform and further questions the validity of a libel lawsuit due to U.S. first amendment protections.

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Justice Department ordered to investigate Epstein’s ties to Democrats. After Democratic politicians released a tranche of Jeffery Epstein’s emails that repeatedly mentioned President Trump, the President demanded retaliation. He instructed the Justice Department to investigate a number of prominent Democrats for their alleged ties to Epstein, and falsely framed criticism of his ties to Epstein as a targeted campaign, calling it a “Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats.” Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly complied and reversed a prior DOJ finding that said the Epstein files contained nothing warranting further investigation. The move demonstrates further erosion of the DOJ’s independence and belies the transformation of the Department into Trump’s personal retaliation force. Moreover, this retaliatory act could cause officials to withhold additional Epstein files because they relate to an active investigation, further delaying justice for Epstein’s victims.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Marion County, a rural Kansas county, has agreed to pay just over $3 million and apologize over a 2023 law enforcement raid on the Marion County Record, a small town weekly newspaper. Prosecutors concluded that the raid and investigation were “inadequate,” citing that the newspaper had committed no crimes. The settlement includes payouts to the publisher, former journalists, and other individuals impacted by the raid.

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This week saw new levels of hypocrisy from the Trump Administration, which still claims it ‘brought free speech back.’ Amongst other instances of censorship, CBS heavily edited an interview with Donald Trump after settling his lawsuit related to the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last year; an Administration official’s spouse threatened to denaturalize a talk-show pundit after a live debate; and the North Carolina Republican Party threatened an investigative outlet with its “connections with the Trump Administration.”

Suppressing Press Freedom

CBS heavily edits Trump interview after paying him $16 million over editing complaint. In a moment of supreme irony, CBS’s 60 Minutes aired only 28 minutes of their 73-minute interview with President Trump on November 3—just months after parent company Paramount paid Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit claiming they deceptively edited a Kamala Harris interview. The network cut portions where Trump boasted about extracting “a lot of money” from Paramount and removed a segment where he appeared flustered when pressed about pardoning crypto founder Changpeng Zhao, stammering “I can’t say — I’m not concerned. I don’t — I’d rather not have you ask the question.” Tech journalist Mike Masnick noted the absurdity on Bluesky: “So, they cut out the part where Trump claims that not airing the full unedited interview means you can sue them for millions of dollars, but then tells them they should not air this part?”

North Carolina state Republican Party threatens ProPublica. While authoring a profile of North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby, ProPublica emailed his office with a series of questions. Astonishingly, a reply to ProPublica’s inquiry came from the state Republican Party communications director, Matt Mercer, who told the outlet, “I’m sure you’re aware of our connections with the Trump Administration and I’m sure they would be interested in this matter. I would strongly suggest dropping this story.” ProPublica interviewed more than 70 people for their profile, many of whom requested anonymity out of fear that the chief justice “or his proxies would retaliate against them through the courts’ oversight system, the state bar association or the influence he wields more broadly.”

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

Stephen Miller’s wife threatens to denaturalize journalist after criticism. On an October 30 episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored a nakedly fascist attempt at censorship was launched by Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. While debating left-wing pundit Cenk Uygur, Miller became enraged by Uygur’s positions, declaring, “You better check your citizenship application and hope everything was legal and correct. Because you’ll be just like Ilhan Omar coming next.” There is no evidence that neither Uygur nor Omar have broken any immigration laws, despite the patently undemocratic and xenophobic rhetoric peddled about them by the Trump Administration. Beyond that, this incident exposes the White House’s hypocrisy in declaring, earlier this year, that “free speech is back,” despite the Administration’s apparent willingness to revoke it—and legally-obtained citizenship—for engaging in First-Amendment-protected speech.

Worsening Political Climate

Arizona teachers face death threats for costumes falsely tied to Charlie Kirk’s murder. Math teachers at Cienega High School in southern Arizona are facing death threats and calls that they be fired after a Turning Point USA employee falsely accused them of wearing Halloween costumes mocking the assassination of the organization’s co-founder, Charlie Kirk. According to Vail School District Superintendent John Carruth, claims that the costumes mocked Kirk’s death were untrue. The shirts, Carruth explained, were a joke about solving math problems — worn to school both this year and for Halloween in 2024. While this incident was not sanctioned or perpetrated by the Administration, it is indicative of a worsening, more hostile political climate sweeping across the U.S., and the increased normalization of stochastic violence to stifle political expression.

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Reality-based campaigns beat out disinformers in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races and New York mayoral contest. In his victory speech, NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani laid out his plans to stand up to the tech-enabled American oligarchy: “If we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it,” he said, “we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.”

Amen.

(If you’re curious about how Mamdani might take on Big Tech, our friends at Tech Policy Press have you covered.)

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November is here, and the Trump administration’s widespread censorship continues. Another school event that was set to discuss the administration’s book bans was cancelled, the President himself demanded that ads depicting his low polling numbers be banned, and two January 6th prosecutors faced professional retribution from the Department of Justice.

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

Bay Area school barred authors from discussing book bans. Two children’s book authors, Joanna Ho and Caroline Kusin-Pritchard, were blocked from a speaking event at San Ramon Valley Unified School District’s Country Club Elementary School after the principal asked them to remove material regarding “book bans or the types of books being banned, specifically books with queer representation” from their presentation. The authors refused to modify their event; they were then barred from presenting and the event was cancelled over concerns that the presentation was “not suited” for the younger students, despite having presented before thousands of elementary school students about their book The Day the Books Disappeared in the past.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Trump demands ban on opinion polls reflecting his low ratings. President Trump took to Truth Social to allege that “radical left losers” are spreading fake ads depicting fake public opinion polls that show low popularity. According to The Independent, “it was not immediately clear what advertisements or polling Trump was referencing in his social media post.” Reuters/Ipsos released a poll earlier this month that showed Trump’s numbers were plummeting on a wide variety of issues, ranging from the economy to immigration to the rule of law. Another poll conducted by Silver Bulletin shows that the president’s approval rating has fallen from 52.4 percent to 43.8 percent.

Retaliation Against Critics

January 6th prosecutors punished. Two federal prosecutors were placed on leave after seeking a 27-month sentence for a January 6th participant Taylor Taranto, “after he was found guilty at a bench trial of showing up near Mr. Obama’s house in Washington with two firearms and ammunition in June 2023.” Their filing referred to Taranto, who Trump pardoned for his participation in the January 6 insurrection, as being part of a “mob of rioters.” The Department of Justice withdrew the filing, replaced it with one that omitted all January 6th and Trump references, and assigned new prosecutors. This retribution comes after a broader purge of Justice Department officials involved in the Capitol riot cases, which includes firings and demotions.

Congressional candidate charged for “impeding” ICE. Kat Abughazaleh, a candidate for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 23 for allegedly conspiring to impede federal officers during a September 26 protest outside the Broadview ICE facility. The indictment claims Abughazaleh and five others “banged aggressively” on a government vehicle and forced an agent to drive slowly to avoid injuring protesters. If convicted, she faces up to six years in prison for conspiracy and eight years for intimidation charges. Abughazaleh, who has been repeatedly dragged and thrown to the ground by ICE agents in previous protests, called the charges “a political prosecution and a gross attempt at silencing dissent.”

☀️ The Good News ☀️

Fighting back. Following up on a previous story, Indiana University student newspaper advisor Jim Rodenbush has filed a lawsuit against the University for censoring the Indiana Daily Student (IDS). The lawsuit accuses the University of violating both the First and the 14th amendment rights of Rodenbush, citing that the IDS was granted a charter in 1969 to safeguard its “independence and freedom,” and that “final content decisions and responsibility rest with duly appointed student editors and managers.” The suit seeks Rodenbush’s reinstatement and also seeks damages, thus challenging public universities’ abilities to restrict journalism based on content they oppose. Following the filing of Rodenbush’s lawsuit, the university reinstated the newspaper.

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As October draws to a close, the Trump administration’s assault on free expression has reached alarming new heights. A public university cut a deal to escape federal investigations, a veteran editor quit rather than censor criticism of the administration, and Border Patrol instructed citizens not to protest. Meanwhile, a British commentator was detained mid-speaking tour for his views on Gaza. The chilling effect is no longer hypothetical—it’s here, and it’s spreading.

But… Before we get to our usual programming—a quick recap from EU DisinfoLab 2025 in beautiful Ljubljana! Nina gave a moving keynote speech to a packed house, delivering a stark warning about the state of our field, amidst rising censorship from the administration, sharing her own story as a disinformation researcher attacked for simply doing her job. She motivated the crowd, encouraging us all to dig deep, keep up our work, and to never stop fighting the good fight.

I was also pleased to speak on a panel, during which I presented our work that we share (almost) every week right here at Last Week in Censorship!

Now, back over to the latest actions taken by the administration in the last week. Thank you to all for tuning in once more! ☀️

Crackdown on Academic Freedom & Research

University of Virginia becomes first public university to capitulate to Trump administration pressure. After months of federal investigations and the resignation of its president, UVA capitulated to the Department of Justice to pause five ongoing civil rights investigations. Unlike private universities Columbia and Brown, which paid millions in settlements, UVA avoided financial penalties but agreed to quarterly reporting through 2028 demonstrating compliance with the administration’s interpretation of civil rights laws. The agreement came after former president James Ryan resigned in June due to pressure from the administration.

Suppressing Press Freedom

Governing magazine editor resigns over Trump censorship pressures. Alan Greenblatt, a 20-year veteran journalist and editor of Governing magazine, resigned October 10 after his parent company ordered staff to avoid articles that could “draw the attention of the Trump White House.” The final straw came when Greenblatt was blocked from publishing an article defending the First Amendment following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and firing of Jimmy Kimmel. “Being told I couldn’t defend free speech was almost too on the nose,” Greenblatt wrote. The company’s chief content officer had warned that even an article about vaccine attitudes caused “consternation” because the issue had become partisan.

State-Sponsored Intimidation, Propaganda, and Unwinding Civil Rights Protections

British commentator detained by ICE for criticizing Israel’s war in Gaza. Sami Hamdi, a British journalist and Middle East analyst, was detained at San Francisco International Airport on October 27 while on a U.S. speaking tour. ICE revoked his visa retroactively, declaring him “illegally in the country” despite his legal entry on October 19.

Border Patrol defends shooting protesters: “Don’t protest.” In a CBS interview, Commander Gregory Bovino defended his agents’ tactics, calling their use of force “exemplary” and stating, “If someone strays into a pepper ball, then that’s on them: Don’t protest. And don’t trespass.” Video evidence showed agents firing from elevated positions and hitting protesters above the waist, both potential violations of DHS policy. Despite multiple incidents captured on video, Bovino confirmed no agents have been disciplined. Bovino was also summoned to federal court after being recorded throwing tear gas canisters at protesters in Little Village, violating a judge’s order restricting use of riot-control weapons. A federal judge admonished him, noting “Kids dressed in Halloween costumes walking to a parade do not pose an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer.”

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