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Internet Censorship Archive

Archives for December 2025

Free speech’s great leap backwards

An era of digital authoritarianism has American free expression in a stranglehold.

Felipe De La Hoz
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Imran Ahmed obtains temporary restraining order against State Department sanctions.

The CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is suing Trump administration officials after they targeted him for deportation from the US because of his online content moderation work.

On Thursday morning, he announced that US District Judge Vernon Broderick granted a TRO and preliminary injunction blocking his arrest or detainment. A hearing has been scheduled for Monday.

Imran Ahmed TRO

[DocumentCloud]

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Imran Ahmed is suing Marco Rubio and other federal officials to fight their sanctions barring him from the US.

The Trump administration just sanctioned five people, including Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) founder Imran Ahmed, over their work in content moderation and anti-disinformation. On Wednesday he filed a lawsuit (pdf) to stop their “unconstitutional attempt to arrest and expel him.”

Ahmed:

My life’s work is to protect children from the dangers of unregulated social media and AI and fight the spread of antisemitism online. That mission has pitted me against big tech executives – and Elon Musk in particular – multiple times. I am proud to call the United States my home. My wife and daughter are American, and instead of spending Christmas with them, I am fighting to prevent my unlawful deportation from my home country.

Trump administration bars former EU official and anti-disinformation and hate researchers from USTrump administration bars former EU official and anti-disinformation and hate researchers from US
Judge blocks Texas app store age verification lawJudge blocks Texas app store age verification law
Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Siri, play “Hate to Say I Told You So” by The Hives.

Bari Weiss killed a 60 Minutes story on CECOT, the El Salvador prison where the Trump administration has been deporting people. A senior correspondent noted that the story had been cleared by Standards and Practices, as well as the company’s lawyers, calling the decision “political.”

Why does this seem familiar? I feel like maybe someone predicted this?

A screenshot from my Oct. 7th story: “Managing requires certain kinds of soft skills, ones I am not confident you possess. They weren’t necessary in your cushy Wall Street Journal op-ed job, or your cushier New York Times op-ed job. They were barely required at the publication you invented, The Free Press. So now you’re the head honcho at CBS News. Let’s say you decide to skip levels to directly edit a 60 Minutes story. It doesn’t even have to be a controversial story to make all hell break loose — because you have neither the credibility nor the relationships required to take this kind of work on. And what’s more, you’ve got a news division composed exclusively of ambitious piranhas below you — not your handpicked cronies, like Tyler “I wish to see Hollywood virgins” Cowen. These people have decades in television, and you have a newsletter and a history of throwing your colleagues under the bus.”
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Section 230 is on the chopping block (again).

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced a bill to sunset the law that shields social media platforms from being held liable for content moderation, and their users’ posts. Section 230 has long been a target of bipartisan tech critics, but reforming it has proved complicated.

Durbin, Graham Introduce Bill To Sunset Section 230 Immunity For Tech Companies, Protect Americans Online

[Sen. Dick Durbin]

Brendan Carr doesn’t regret his threats to broadcastersBrendan Carr doesn’t regret his threats to broadcasters
Tim Cook’s lobbying hangs over a key kids online safety voteTim Cook’s lobbying hangs over a key kids online safety vote
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
The House is moving forward with kids online safety more quickly than expected.

A key committee scheduled a markup of 18 bills, including the revised Kids Online Safety Act, for Thursday. That’s just over a week since holding a hearing to first consider the package. After killing KOSA last year, the House may be trying to leave its mark before the holiday break.

Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis Announce CMT Subcommittee Markup of Online Safety Bills

[House Committee on Energy and Commerce]

Australia boots kids under 16 off social media: how platforms are respondingAustralia boots kids under 16 off social media: how platforms are responding
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
The FTC is convening experts to examine age verification technology.

The agency announced a new workshop on January 28th where it will host academics, industry reps, and advocates to discuss age verification. It comes as Congress and many states have weighed or passed laws meant to protect kids online that would require companies to adopt these kinds of technologies.

FTC Announces Workshop on Age Verification Technologies

[Federal Trade Commission]

Trump admin may deny H-1B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report saysTrump admin may deny H-1B visas to people who worked in content moderation, report says
A leading kids safety bill has been poison pilled, supporters sayA leading kids safety bill has been poison pilled, supporters say
Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Diminished FTC independence looms over kids safety lawmaking.

Some Democrats on the panel and one witness warn that a politicized and weakened Federal Trade Commission could undermine enforcement of any laws passed. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) recalls an earlier hearing derailed by the president’s firing of two Democratic commissioners — the subject of a Supreme Court hearing Monday.

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