Welcome to the August 2024 edition of the Free Press Update, our newsletter recapping as much of our work from the last month as we can fit into one email. Let’s get into it:

UPDATES FROM FREE PRESS

A Mistaken Court Ruling Is the Latest Hurdle in the Net Neutrality Fight

Free Press staffers and allies celebrated when the Biden FCC voted to restore Net Neutrality and Title II. Almost immediately industry players sued to overturn the protections.

The Biden FCC adopted strong Net Neutrality protections in April and restored its Title II authority to hold broadband providers accountable — and almost immediately industry groups representing ISPs like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon sued to repeal the rules. On Aug. 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit granted the ISPs’ request to stay implementation of these rules until the court conducts its full review of the case in the fall.

This decision is a setback for internet users, but a temporary one. Here’s what you need to know.

Get Us In Your Feeds

Are you connected with Free Press on social media? If not, we’ve featured some posts from the past month below — but be sure to stay in the loop by following Free Press on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter/X.

• On Facebook, we welcomed Media 2070’s new director: Anshantia "Tia" Oso! Get to know Tia.
• On Instagram, we broke down Elon Musk’s big mess at Twitter. Learn more.
• On TikTok, we just couldn’t resist getting in on the hilarious “very demure” trend. Watch.

UPDATES FROM FREE PRESS ACTION

Tell Twitter to Stop Dangerous Disinformation

Twitter is a disaster.

Twitter owner Elon Musk retweeted a deepfake video that stitched together real and manipulated audio of Vice President Kamala Harris — without noting it was a parody. The post seemed to clearly violate Twitter’s own rules against synthetic and manipulated media. And that’s not all — Twitter’s AI chatbot spread false information about ballot deadlines to millions of users for more than a week.

We’ve had enough. Add your name to our petition urging Twitter to protect its users from the toxic spread of disinformation.

How Misinformation Affects Spanish Speakers

Free Press Action Co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzàlez (right) with fellow civil-society experts and Sen. Ben Ray Luján

Though deceitful content affects everyone, daily Spanish speakers in the United States are more likely to experience the negative impacts of online misinformation.

Free Press Action Co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzàlez recently joined Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Alex Padilla for a Capitol Hill briefing to highlight this crisis of non-English disinformation — and to issue an urgent call for social-media platforms to beef up content moderation across all languages. Here’s some of what Jessica shared.

Find Us on Social Media

If you’re interested in learning more about our policy platform — and all the great work our team is up to — make sure you’re following Free Press Action on Facebook and Twitter/X!

We shared an excerpt from Co-CEO Jessica J. Gonzàlez’s appearance at a Capitol Hill briefing, where she discussed a manipulation tactic designed to saturate people with content that drives apathy. Check it out and retweet.

Thank you for reading! The info here represents only a tiny fraction of what Free Press and Free Press Action are doing every day to fight for your rights to connect and communicate. As dangerous online disinformation ramps up ahead of elections in November, your support couldn’t come at a better time, friend. Will you make a gift today? We rely on contributions from grassroots donors like you to take on Big Tech because we don't take a cent from business, government or political parties.

Thank you for everything you do to help power our movement,

All of us at Free Press and Free Press Action
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