Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech July 22, 2025 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]. In the News Ballotpedia News: Federal appeals court blocks enforcement of Maine’s Question 2, which barred election spending by corporations that are at least 5% foreign‑owned By Nicole Fisher .....On July 15, a federal judge ruled that Question 1—a ballot measure that limited campaign contributions to super PACs, which voters approved in 2024—was unconstitutional. U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf wrote, “The question in this case is whether the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United forecloses a state’s ability to limit contributions to political groups making independent expenditures. After Citizens United, there is no valid governmental interest sufficient to justify imposing limits on fundraising by independent-expenditure organizations.” New from the Institute for Free Speech Institute for Free Speech Wins Major Victory Against California Campus Censorship .....When Matin Samimiat fled authoritarian Iran for the freedom of America, he never expected to face censorship again—this time on a California college campus. Now, Samimiat and fellow student Annaliese Hutchings have secured a major victory for student free speech rights, as Golden West College has agreed to repeal unconstitutional speech restrictions and pay attorney fees to resolve a federal lawsuit challenging campus censorship. The settlement in Samimiat, et al. v. Smallshaw requires Coast Community College District to formally repeal its prohibition on “hateful behavior” and modify its “infliction of mental harm” policy to explicitly protect First Amendment expression. The college also agreed to pay $25,750.89 in attorney fees and expenses to the Institute for Free Speech, which represented the students and the Young America’s Foundation (YAF), a campus organization for young conservatives, as well as $17.91 in nominal damages to Samimiat and Hutchings each. The Courts GBH: Judge hears closing arguments in foreign academics' free speech case By Sarah Betancourt .....Closing arguments were made Monday in a federal case focused on reversing the Trump administration’s detention of foreign students and faculty for participating in pro-Palestinian activism. Plaintiffs, including the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, are challenging what they say amounts to a government “ideological deportation policy” to revoke the visas and green cards of foreign scholars as violations of the First Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. Government lawyers have argued that such a policy doesn’t exist, and defended that point to U.S. District Judge William G. Young over two weeks of hearings at Boston’s Moakley courthouse. Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Court Considers Claim of Montgomery County (Md.) Teachers Transferred for Pro-Palestinian Speech Following Oct. 7, 2023 By Eugene Volokh .....From Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby (D. Md.) yesterday in El-Haggan v. Bd. of Ed.: Swatting U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Maryland: Virginia Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Swatting Charges .....Today, Evan Strauss, 27, of Moneta, Virginia, pled guilty to conspiracy, cyberstalking, interstate threatening communications, and threats to damage or destroy by means of fire and explosives. Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the guilty plea with Acting Special Agent in Charge Amanda M. Koldjeski, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Baltimore Field Office. According to the guilty plea, Strauss helped create and operate an online group known as “Purgatory.” The group used multiple online social-media platforms, including Telegram and Instagram, to coordinate and plan swatting and doxxing activities and to announce and brag about swats that they conducted. Axios: Top Secret Service official targeted in "swatting" attack By Sam Sabin .....A top Secret Service official was the target of a "swatting" incident at his home on the Fourth of July, according to an agency official. While the incident didn't lead to any harm, it's another example of just how difficult it's become for law enforcement to rein in the wave of hoax calls. Someone called 9-1-1 on July 4 to falsely report that the senior-level official's daughter was running around the house with a weapon, Michael Centrella, assistant director of the Secret Service's office of field operations, told a small gathering of tech executives Thursday at the Deepfake Resilience Symposium in San Francisco. The voice on the phone appeared to be trying to mimic the agent's, but law enforcement is still investigating whether the caller used a precise deepfake of the agent's voice or just a synthesizer to sound like a man around his age, Centrella added. However, the bad actor's plan was foiled by a simple fact: The agent doesn't have a daughter, and his local law enforcement knew that. Online Speech Platforms Reuters Institute: Generative AI and elections: why you should worry more about humans than AI systems By Dr Felix Simon and Dr Sacha Altay .....In a recent paper we wrote for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, we reviewed current evidence on the impact of GenAI in the 2024 elections and identified several reasons why the impact of GenAI on elections has been overblown. These include the inherent challenges of mass persuasion, the complexity of media effects and people’s interaction with technology, the difficulty of reaching target audiences, and the limited effectiveness of AI-driven microtargeting in political campaigns. This article is an excerpt of that paper and addresses three key claims around GenAI and elections, based on recent evidence and the wealth of preexisting literature on technological change. We discuss these claims in turn, arguing that current concerns about the effects of GenAI on elections are overblown in light of the available evidence and theoretical considerations. You’ll find three more claims as well as sources in the full paper, which you can read here and download here. The Hill: Democrats seek to close social media gap with GOP, Trump By Amie Parnes .....Democrats are grappling with how to up their game on social media following an election cycle where they acknowledged they were trounced by Republicans on platforms like X, Instagram, and YouTube. In recent focus groups and polls, Democrats have pressed for answers on why they failed to connect with voters on the platforms in 2024. So far, they have concluded it was both a message and messenger problem. But political observers say that Democrats were also missing the mark on social media. New polling by the Democratic super PAC Unite the Country, for example, revealed that social media is the third most popular way for voters to get their news. But Democratic spending on social media pales in comparison to the consistency and efficacy of Republican efforts online. The States Netchoice: Proposed Missouri Rule Would Run Roughshod Over Free Speech Online By Krista Chavez .....Today, NetChoice submitted comments to the Missouri Attorney General on the proposed rulemaking that would give the government control over protected speech online, running “roughshod” over the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in NetChoice v. Moody.  Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update." 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