Adi Robertson

Senior Editor, Tech & Policy

Adi RobertsonJan 23, 2025

Brendan Carr amps up his censorship campaign.

He’s reinstated three complaints against broadcasters that former chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed as attempts to influence news coverage:

Rosenworcel said the commission was rejecting complaints that “seek to weaponize the licensing authority of the FCC in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment”. Then, on Wednesday, the FCC said in a series of orders the complaints had been dismissed “prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record”.

A fourth complaint, against a Fox station, has not been reinstated.

FCC reinstates complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC for 2024 election coverage

[The Guardian]

Adi RobertsonJan 21, 2025

Wow. Very freedom. Such speech.

Nothing says protecting the First Amendment like Elon Musk’s congressional DOGE liaison threatening reporters for describing a physical gesture. Musk has previously used a friendly judge in Texas to fight being associated with the far right. But when you’ve got a White House office and a congressional subcommittee to fight your battles, who needs lawsuits?

Adi RobertsonJan 21, 2025

The United States Digital Service is now DOGE.

USDS was founded under President Barack Obama to revamp healthcare.gov and do other White House tech consulting work. A Trump executive order renames it to the United States DOGE Service (the United States Department of Government Efficiency Service, if you unpack the nesting acronym) and orders it to “improve the quality and efficiency” of government software and other IT services.

Establishing And Implementing The President's "Department Of Government Efficiency" – The White House

[The White House]

Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days

Adi Robertson and Lauren FeinerJan 21, 2025

Adi RobertsonJan 21, 2025

You don’t need an executive order to point out that the First Amendment exists.

But President Donald Trump has issued one anyway:

The previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive pressure on third parties, such as social media companies, to moderate, deplatform, or otherwise suppress speech that the Federal Government did not approve.

Sounds pretty bad!

RESTORING FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND ENDING FEDERAL CENSORSHIP – The White House

[The White House]

Adi RobertsonJan 20, 2025

The CBP One immigration app no longer lets asylum-seekers make appointments.

And existing appointments reportedly have been canceled. The app was a target of smears from President Donald Trump’s campaign, and its partial shutdown was widely expected.

Text: Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One™ that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled. For further inquiries, please contact CBP’s Office of Public Affairs at CBPMediaRelations@cbp.dhs.gov.

The current update on the CBP One site.

Adi RobertsonJan 20, 2025

DOGE sued for being slightly too fake a department.

A lawsuit filed minutes after Trump took office alleges Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (which is not a department of the government) is violating laws that require transparency and balance in federal advisory committees. Incidentally, this one is being brought by two men who tried and failed to apply for work at DOGE — but there are at least two others as well.

Elon Musk’s DOGE sued minutes after Trump inauguration

[The Washington Post]

Adi RobertsonJan 16, 2025

I am once again asking for a TikTok v. Garland ruling.

The Supreme Court’s site has added text saying it “may announce opinions” at 10AM ET tomorrow. I’m going to be furious if we don’t find out the fate of TikTok two days before the scheduled ban. I will also grudgingly respect the top-tier troll effort.