Speech

A Washington Post report digs into one 67-year-old man’s experience being targeted by a warrantless administrative subpoena that doesn’t need sign off from a judge or jury.

A federal judge barred government officials from reviewing Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s devices that were seized by investigators last week. The ruling came after the Post asked for the return of Natanson’s devices and not to review their contents, alleging a grave First Amendment violation.

In a highly unusual move, FBI agents executed a search warrant on Washington Post journalist Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home, the Post reports. Natanson has written about the Department of Government Efficiency’s federal workforce overhaul. Investigators are reportedly probing a system administrator with security clearance accused of removing classified information.

Carr and fellow FCC commissioners Anna Gomez and Olivia Trusty are set to testify before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on January 14th for an agency oversight hearing. The trio testified before the Senate Commerce Committee last month, where Carr doubled down on his threats to broadcasters.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) board voted to wind down the 58-year-old organization after Congress slashed its funding. CPB president and CEO Patricia Harrison said shutting it down would “protect the integrity of the public media system ... rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ahead of the hearing, global head of privacy Hilary Ware shared Apple’s guiding principles for any app store-based age assurance laws with subcommittee leaders. The company may see the writing on the wall as such laws that have swept states are now getting a shot in Congress.

That’s the message from E&C Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), defending the gutting of the duty of care in KOSA. It’s also one of the central tensions playing out in today’s hearing: Could KOSA withstand judicial scrutiny with the duty of care? And can a version without it protect kids?

I’m in the hearing room where House lawmakers are discussing 19 bills they say will make kids safer online. Subcommittee Chair Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) begins by defending the massive rework of KOSA. “Don’t mistake durability for weakness,” he says. I’ll share more updates in the stream below.

Fresh off a settlement with the DOJ over its software allegedly enabling landlord collusion to raise rents, RealPage is now suing the state of New York over a new law that bans algorithmic rent pricing, claiming it violates the company’s First Amendment rights.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to discuss a new package of 19 internet-related bills at a hearing on December 2nd, Punchbowl News reports. The controversial duty of care in the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is set to be replaced with requirements for installing harm-mitigating procedures.

Over 100 parents whose children died after suffering online harms sent a letter to Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) urging him to quickly advance the Kids Online Safety Act. The House is expected to soon introduce a version weakening the centerpiece of the bill: the duty of care.