The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech March 13, 2024 Click here to subscribe to the Daily Media Update. This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected]. The Courts The Detroit News: GOP rep sues House speaker after newsletter critical of lawmakers, Whitmer is blocked By Beth LeBlanc .....Republican state Rep. Matt Maddock has filed a federal lawsuit against Democratic House Speaker Joe Tate and House Business Office employees for refusing to use taxpayer resources to pay for the printing and mailing of a constituent newsletter that criticized Tate and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The House Business Office, which is under Tate's supervision, acted "the part of state censor" in refusing to pay for the printing and mailing of the newsletter under House rules that are "scorchingly unconstitutional," the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court alleged. "...the rules prohibit legislators from publishing a newsletter if that newsletter criticizes the Legislature, legislators, or other individuals, including the governor," the lawsuit said. "In other words, the government prohibits publishing comments critical of the government." Congress Washington Post (Technology 202): Lawmakers are wrestling with how to regulate deepfakes By Will Oremus .....In one corner of the debate was Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of NetChoice, a tech industry group funded by Google and Meta, among others. Testifying at the [House Oversight cybersecurity subcommittee] hearing, Szabo argued that most of the harms posed by AI deepfakes can and should be addressed through existing laws rather than new ones. “Every law that applies offline applies online,” he said. “So when it comes to harassment, we need to enforce harassment law. When it comes to fraud, we need to enforce fraud law.” Szabo said there are some gaps in existing laws when it comes to deepfakes, however, that could be addressed with narrowly tailored legislation. For instance, he said NetChoice supports an amendment to clarify that artificially generated child pornography violates the same laws that apply to other forms of child sex abuse material. But he said he's wary of government “overreach,” adding: “The last thing we want is to make a law that doesn't hold up in court.” Free Expression Wall Street Journal: The NIH Sacrifices Scientific Rigor for DEI By John Sailer .....It might seem counterintuitive to prioritize “diversity statements” while hiring neurobiologists—but not at the NIH. The agency for several years has pushed this practice across the country through its Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation program—First for short—which funds diversity-focused faculty hiring in the biomedical sciences. Through dozens of public-records requests, I have acquired thousands of pages of documents related to the program—grant proposals, emails, hiring rubrics and more. The information reveals how the NIH enforces an ideological agenda, prompting universities and medical schools to vet potential biomedical scientists for wrongthink regarding diversity. The Atlantic: The Media Are Getting Easier to Push Around By Paul Farhi ....In October, [Alabama community newspaper Atmore News] published a story, based on an anonymous leak, revealing that [district attorney Stephen] Billy was conducting a grand-jury investigation into possible financial fraud by the local school system. Shortly thereafter, Billy charged the paper’s publisher, 73-year-old Sherry Digmon, and its only reporter, 69-year-old Don Fletcher, with violating a state secrecy law. Digmon and Fletcher were cuffed by deputies they’d known for years and charged with felonies that could land them in the local prison for up to three years on each count. They maintained they’d merely reported news of importance. That a district attorney would use his official powers to criminalize an act of journalism, in defiance of both the First Amendment and the public interest, generated a brief ripple of national attention and criticism. (Billy did not respond to requests for comment. In February, he recused himself from the case, citing a conflict, though the prosecution is ongoing.) But the Atmore arrests weren’t all that unusual: Reporters and news organizations in hundreds of communities have faced interference, intimidation, and harassment from local officials in recent years. These episodes have occurred at a time of waning public support for the news media and amid the industry’s ever-deteriorating financial condition. In other words, officials may be emboldened to bully the press because they believe they can get away with it. Daily Caller: Embattled Ivy League Professor Amy Wax Alleges School Attempting To ‘Punish’ Her For Conservative Speech By Brandon Poulter .....University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) law professor Amy Wax alleged that the school does not adhere to free speech standards and is targeting the scholar because of her conservative beliefs. Wax, who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation, has made several controversial statements outside of the classroom, and the university has claimed that her speech created “a hostile campus environment.” Former UPenn President Liz Magill signed off on sanctions against Wax, which Wax said was an attempt to sanction her for extramural speech, which is speech outside the classroom, and said that the school is “flagrantly in violation of the principles of academic freedom.” Online Speech Platforms TechCrunch: Google won’t let you use its Gemini AI to answer questions about an upcoming election in your country By Jagmeet Singh .....If you want to ask Google’s AI chatbot a question about an upcoming election, you will have to do it from a country where there are no elections taking place. TechCrunch has learned that the search giant has started to restrict queries made in Gemini when they relate to elections, in any market globally where elections are taking place. RealClearMarkets: Efforts By My Fellow Conservatives To Ban TikTok Are Misguided By Rob Smith .....It seems that my fellow conservatives are leading the charge to ban Tik-Tok, but fellas, your efforts are misguided and short sighted. Free speech is already under attack in every corner of our nation. All across our land people are afraid to challenge government sponsored narratives for fear of losing their jobs, being physically attacked and having our own government arrest them for nothing more than “thought crimes.” It’s time to stand up for unfettered free speech. Just by advocating banning Tik-Tok, you are giving despots and tyrants more fuel to set fire to our God given liberty to think and express ourselves freely. The States MLive: Michigan lawmakers to propose revealing politicians’ ‘dark money’ accounts By Simon Schuster .....A group of Democratic state lawmakers are set to unveil bills Wednesday that would broaden the reporting requirement for elected officials and the accounts they use to raise money out of public view. According to drafts of the seven bills obtained by MLive, the legislation would ban elected officials from becoming lobbyists for a year after leaving office and expand Michigan’s lobbying law to include legislative staff in lobbyists’ reporting. Most prominently, two kinds of commonly used fundraising accounts, known as 527 and 501(c)(4) organizations, would have to register with the Michigan Department of State and describe the relationships of organization’s board members to elected officials. Hartford Courant: Bail reduced for notorious blogger charged with stalking CT judges. He claims it’s free speech. By Edmund H. Mahony .....Bail was sharply reduced Tuesday for Paul Boyne, a Virginia man charged with internet stalking and whose prosecution for hurling years of attacks at Connecticut judges could test the limits of what constitutes protected speech under the first amendment. Until his arrest in July, Boyne was notorious among the judiciary for posting venomous blog posts that used racist, antisemitic and homophobic terms to vilify judges and judicial appointees involved in divorce and custody cases. Several judges have complained to state and federal authorities that they have come to fear that they or their family members could be the subject of attacks because Boyne has identified them, their homes and even the cars they drive. Often, in posts associated with photographs of judges or family members, the blog talks of a need to nurture liberty with the “blood of tyrants” and suggests that violence is a remedy available to disgruntled family court litigants. Boyne has argued his blog commentary is constitutionally protected, regardless of how vile the content may be… One of Boyne’s lawyers, Alice M. Osedach Powers, said Tuesday he is moving to dismiss the charges, arguing that whatever he said on his blog is protected commentary. Harmon gave State’s Attorney John Doyle until the end of April to respond. Daily Camera: Colorado Supreme Court declines to review Boulder defamation case By Amber Carlson .....The Colorado Supreme Court has declined to review a defamation lawsuit that former Boulder City Council candidate Steven Rosenblum filed against local political activists, including Eric Budd. The decision means the case may be headed to trial. Rosenblum originally filed the lawsuit in Boulder District Court claiming that Budd and several other political organizers had launched an “orchestrated smear campaign” to destroy his reputation during his unsuccessful bid for City Council in the fall of 2021. The former candidate claimed that Budd had defamed him and misappropriated his likeness by creating a fake social media account under Rosenblum’s name and using it to share a link to the Safer Leaks blog. The blog contains critical statements about Rosenblum as well as other members of the Safer Boulder group, which has advocated for Boulder to fully enforce its camping ban and increase police presence in the city. At the time, the blog falsely attributed a series of Reddit posts to Rosenblum, but the inaccurate statements have since been removed. Attorneys representing the organizers filed a special motion in November 2021 to dismiss the case based on a 2019 Colorado law targeting strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits. The attorneys argued the lawsuit was aimed at silencing legitimate political speech from people who opposed Rosenblum’s run for office. Louisville Courier Journal: Opponents say Kentucky 'ag gag' bill could stifle free speech, limit whistleblowing By Rebecca Grapevine .....A bill advancing through the legislature pits the state’s meat processing industry against a diverse group of opponents that ranges from photojournalists to animal rights groups. Senate Bill 16, sponsored by Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, amends Kentucky’s criminal trespass law, first enacted in 2018. That law sought to protect “key infrastructure assets” like energy and drinking water facilities from trespass and from surveillance by unauthorized drones. SB 16 expands on that effort but goes much further, opening the door for stifling free speech and removing a crucial way for news organizations and advocates to monitor corporate activities, opponents say. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. 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