April 18, 2025

Ed. note: The Daily Media Update will return Tuesday, April 22.

In the News

Greenville News: Opinion: South Carolina needs to make enacting strong free speech protections priority

By David Keating

.....Analyzing SLAPP protections is a priority for the Institute for Free Speech. We examine anti-SLAPP laws in all 50 states and D.C., detailing the results in our Anti-SLAPP Report Card.

And the results for South Carolina are alarming.

Lacking any anti-SLAPP law, the Palmetto state earns a grade of “F” and the worst-possible score of zero out of 100 points. South Carolina’s “F” stands in sharp contrast to a significant positive national trend in recent years. Only 14 states — including South Carolina — afford their citizens no protection against SLAPPs.

Congress

Politico: Google is about to get the Ted Cruz treatment

By Brendan Bordelon and Hailey Fuchs

.....Senate Commerce Chair Ted Cruz of Texas and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio are now putting pressure on Google and its parent company Alphabet, which owns both the internet’s dominant search engine and the popular YouTube video platform.

Jordan sent a subpoena last month to Alphabet, seeking its internal discussions and communications with the Biden administration about content moderation. Cruz said Google is “absolutely” his primary target among the tech platforms, promising hearings and possibly even legislation, although he did not specify what kind of laws he might draft.

Cruz sat down last month for a one-on-one meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to deliver a warning: Change Google’s content policies or face his wrath.

In the hourlong meeting, which has not previously been reported, Cruz said he “explicitly and unambiguously” told Pichai his committee would press Google on what he called the company’s ongoing efforts to throttle conservative content.

Senator Collins: Senator Collins, Bipartisan Group Introduce Bill to Ban Deceptive AI-Generated Content in Elections

.....U.S. Senators Susan Collins, Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Michael Bennet (D-CO) introduced the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, bipartisan legislation to ban the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to generate materially deceptive content falsely depicting federal candidates in political ads to influence federal elections.

The Courts

New York Times: Ex-N.Y.P.D. Detective Gets 18 Months for Stalking Man on China’s Behalf

By Colin Moynihan

.....The mysterious clients who approached a private investigator in New Jersey provided scant details about who they were or why they wanted information about a Chinese expatriate named Xu Jin.

But they gave the investigator, Michael McMahon, not only Mr. Xu’s Social Security number and addresses, but also what a judge described as Chinese government material, including the man’s identification number and travel records.

Mr. McMahon, who had been a New York Police Department detective, dug deeper. He turned to a law enforcement database and discovered that Mr. Xu was wanted by the Chinese government.

Still, Mr. McMahon continued meeting with men who federal prosecutors later said were trying to coerce Mr. Xu and his wife, Liu Fang, into returning to China, part of Chinese government programs called Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net.

On Wednesday Judge Pamela K. Chen of Federal District Court in Brooklyn sentenced Mr. McMahon, 57, who was convicted in 2023 of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, stalking and conspiracy, to 18 months in prison.

Trump Administration

New York Times: After Harvard, Liberal Donors and Groups Fear New Scrutiny From Trump

By Theodore Schleifer and Lisa Friedman

.....The close-knit world of liberal donors and the nonprofit groups they support has spent the last week in a state of fear and anxiety, worried that any day now, President Trump could go after their assets or their tax-exempt status.

But it all seemed purely speculative — until Thursday.

In an impromptu news conference in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump confirmed that he was potentially seeking to pull Harvard’s tax-exempt status, in an apparent act of retaliation for the university’s refusal to bow to a long list of demands. And he said there “could be” others, suggesting that the Internal Revenue Service could also take action against organizations that support immigrants or the environment.

“Tax-exempt status, that’s a privilege. It’s really a privilege,” Mr. Trump said. “And it’s been abused. By a lot more than Harvard.”

CNN: Can the president revoke a university’s tax-exempt status?

By Zachary B. Wolf

.....Back in 1983, the Supreme Court agreed that Bob Jones University should not be tax-exempt because, at the time, it banned interracial relationships among its students.

The university didn’t drop its interracial marriage policy until 2000 — in an announcement on CNN’s Larry King Live, coincidentally — although it did not regain its tax-exempt status until 2017.

The US has now come full circle to the point that one of the main gripes Trump has with Harvard is its diversity programs.

Bloomberg Law: Environment Groups Prep for Possible Attack on Nonprofit Status

By Jennifer Hijazi

.....Major environmental groups are guarding against a potential order from President Donald Trump that could strip away their tax-exempt status, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg Law Wednesday.

Multiple environmental and conservation organizations are discussing preparations and assembling legal teams in response to the speculation, according to sources who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

“This is going to be focused on climate activism, not environmentalism in general,” according to Kieran Suckling, executive director for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Some say the order—which could also seize funds and designate groups as domestic terrorists—will be released on Earth Day, April 22.

Reason: A Survey Suggests Most Americans Are Not Keen on Trump's Speech-Based Deportation Initiative

By Jacob Sullum

.....According to the latest iteration of FIRE's quarterly National Speech Index survey, which was conducted from April 4 through April 11, just 26 percent of Americans "support" or "strongly support" a policy of "deporting foreigners legally in the United States on a student visa for expressing pro-Palestine views," while 52 percent—twice as many— "oppose" or "strongly oppose" that policy. The rest were undecided.

FCC

Mediaite: Trump’s FCC Commissioner Threatens Comcast’s License Over ‘News Distortion’

By Michael Luciano

.....Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr threatened news outlets owned by Comcast and suggested the company’s “licensed operations” could be in jeopardy because of its immigration coverage.

The States

Portland Press-Herald: Maine’s nonprofit donors should be afforded privacy

By Jacob Posik and Matt Nese

.....The proposal, LD 951, is modeled off a recent Arizona law that is already being challenged in state and federal court. Even worse, it threatens to increase political violence and stifle civic engagement in Maine.

Under the bill, nonprofits that communicate with the public about legislation, the actions of elected officials or issues on the ballot may be forced to publicly expose their donors’ names and home addresses. Many organizations may choose to self-censor rather than risk putting their supporters in harm’s way. Some donors may decide to stop giving entirely, fearing for their safety.

Texas Tribune: Texas law students warn that bill to quash “terrorist activity” in universities could trample free speech rights

By Jessica Priest

.....Law school students and civil rights organizations warned senators on Wednesday that a measure that would require universities to report students accused of supporting terrorist activities to federal authorities could turn their schools into immigration enforcement agencies.

More than half a dozen students from the University of Texas at Austin testified against Senate Bill 2233. The bill, authored by Sen. Adam Hinojosa, a freshman Republican from Corpus Christi, would require universities and colleges to prohibit their visa-holding students and employees from publicly supporting or persuading others to support terrorist activities related to an ongoing conflict.

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Iowa Senate passes anti-SLAPP bill providing free speech, press protections

By Robin Opsahl

.....The Iowa Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would provide protection against lawsuits aimed at limiting constitutional freedoms of speech and press.

The legislation, House File 472, is known as an anti-SLAPP bill — referring to a measure intended to combat “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPP lawsuits. These are civil lawsuits filed by organizations or individuals against entities such as news organizations or activists not with the expectation of winning the case, but to discourage them from publishing articles or speaking publicly on an issue by engaging them in a long, expensive legal battle.

Reason: Colorado Bill Would Force Judges To Consider 'Misgendering' a Form of 'Coercive Control' in Custody Cases

By Emma Camp

.....A recently introduced Colorado bill seeks to require judges to consider "misgendering" as a form of "coercive control" during child custody disputes. If passed, the bill would pose a major threat to parents' First Amendment rights and prevent judges from considering the individual circumstances surrounding family conflict over a child's gender identity.