Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech October 7, 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]. Congress Jonesing for Nonprofits: Ways And Means Chair Wants IRS to Prioritize Investigations of Palestinian Rights Orgs By Darryll K. Jones .....In the continuing offensive in the propaganda and posturing war against Civil Society, Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith has written another letter asking that the IRS “prioritize” investigations of eight Palestinian rights organizations. The letter is 115 pages but that’s only because it includes 3 previous letters (with appendices) as attachments. Smith references the National Security Presidential Memorandum issued in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination and concludes by stating: The Courts Reuters: Education Department altered employees' emails to blame shutdown on Democrats, lawsuit says By Nate Raymond .....A federal workers' union filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging the Trump administration's alteration of furloughed U.S. Department of Education employees' out-of-office email messages to include language blaming Democrats in the U.S. Senate for the government shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees in a lawsuit alleged the administration violated employees' free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment by co-opting their email correspondence to force them to "recite partisan words that they would not have spoken otherwise." Reason (Volokh Conspiracy): Univ. of South Dakota Withdraws Planned Firing of Art Professor for Vulgar Tweet Calling Charlie Kirk a "Hate Spreading Nazi" By Eugene Volokh .....From today's notice of dismissal, filed by the plaintiff's lawyer in Hook v. Rave: The Hill: Supreme Court declines to revive Laura Loomer RICO suit against Meta, Twitter By Ella Lee .....The Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive right-wing activist Laura Loomer’s racketeering lawsuit against Meta and Twitter, now known as X, alleging they conspired to suppress conservative political speech. Nonprofits New York Times: How to Save the American Experiment By John Fabian Witt .....Many Americans simply abandoned politics in the 1920s, surrendering to the long odds stacked against decent change. A younger generation led by the Jazz Age celebrity F. Scott Fitzgerald announced that it had grown tired of “great causes” like war and social uplift. But beneath the surface of the Roaring ’20s, a generation of social innovators began experiments that laid the basis for a democratic flourishing. New organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union sprang up to defend jailed opponents of World War I and radical dissenters. The still-fledgling N.A.A.C.P., led by James Weldon Johnson, started an anti-lynching campaign in Congress (where it failed) and in the press (where it was much more successful). The super lawyer Clarence Darrow threw himself into the defense of First Amendment freedoms (John Scopes in Tennessee) and Black people’s freedom to live where they liked (Ossian Sweet in Detroit). But a second development shaped the era in a more profound way. In 1922, a handsome Harvard dropout named Charles Garland gave away his million-dollar inheritance. Citing the injustice of vast economic inequalities and crediting both Jesus and the Russian Revolution, Garland took money derived from what is now the Citibank empire and gave it to the muckraking writer Upton Sinclair and the A.C.L.U. founder, Roger Baldwin. Those two men used the windfall to establish the first liberal philanthropic foundation of the age: the American Fund for Public Service, or the Garland Fund, as it was sometimes known. Online Speech Platforms Social Media Today: Meta Is Shutting off Political Ads in the EU This Week By Andrew Hutchinson .....A quick reminder for Meta advertisers in Europe: As of this week, Meta is implementing its ban on all political, electoral and social issue ads in the EU, due to incoming regulations around political advertising in the region. Back in July, Meta explained how the coming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) provision in Europe, which requires all digital ad platforms to implement enhanced transparency measures for political ads, will make it impossible for the company to keep running ads of this type, due to more stringent rules around how user data is applied to such promotions. In particular, TTPA regulations require that each platform gain explicit and separate consent from each user to use their data for such campaigns. Meta says that this is not feasible at its scale, so it’s opted to halt all advertising of this type in the region. New York Times: OpenAI’s Sora Makes Disinformation Extremely Easy and Extremely Real By Tiffany Hsu, Stuart A. Thompson, and Steven Lee Myers .....In its first three days, users of a new app from OpenAI deployed artificial intelligence to create strikingly realistic videos of ballot fraud, immigration arrests, protests, crimes and attacks on city streets — none of which took place. The app, called Sora, requires just a text prompt to create almost any footage a user can dream up. Users can also upload images of themselves, allowing their likeness and voice to become incorporated into imaginary scenes. The app can integrate certain fictional characters, company logos and even deceased celebrities. Sora — as well as Google’s Veo 3 and other tools like it — could become increasingly fertile breeding grounds for disinformation and abuse, experts said. While worries about A.I.’s ability to enable misleading content and outright fabrications have risen steadily in recent years, Sora’s advances underscore just how much easier such content is to produce, and how much more convincing it is. The States Auburn Citizen: Inside allegations that NY Senate candidate paid homeless people in Auburn to be donors By Robert Harding .....The form stated that Titus donated $250 to Republican state Senate candidate Caleb Slater's campaign. In 2024, Slater challenged Democratic state Sen. Rachel May in the 48th Senate District, which includes all of Cayuga County. But Titus did not actually give the money to Slater. As first reported by the Albany Times Union in August, Slater's campaign finance filings show that several homeless people from Auburn are listed as campaign donors. However, those individuals have confirmed they never donated any money. They were paid, though, to provide their information… What Ellinger did not know at the time was Slater's campaign could receive much more money for every $250 donation. Slater enrolled in the state Public Campaign Finance System, which launched in November 2022 ahead of the 2024 election cycle. The purpose of the program was to encourage candidates to collect small-dollar donations from in-district residents. In return, the state would provide matching funds. For state legislative candidates, there is a $12-to-1 match for the first $50, $9-to-1 for the next $100 and $8-to1 for the next $100. A candidate can receive $2,300 in matching funds for a $250 donation. Courthouse News: California bans billionaire ploys to buy votes By Alan Riquelmy .....California Governor Gavin Newsom continued his swipes at President Donald Trump when signing two bills Thursday intended to protect election integrity. Senate Bill 42 will put a measure on the November 2026 ballot that asks voters to repeal an existing ban on the public financing of elections in the state. Senate Bill 398 makes it illegal to offer money or other valuable consideration to incentivize someone to vote or register to vote. “Other valuable consideration” is defined in Senate Bill 398 as the chance to win a lottery or prize-drawing contest — an offer the bills’ author said was made last year by billionaire Elon Musk and his America PAC. Arizona Capitol Times: Fontes says candidates can use campaign cash for personal security By Reagan Priest .....Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes says he will not open campaign finance complaints against candidates who use campaign funds for personal security in the wake of increased political violence. Since Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot dead on Sept. 10, Arizona’s elected officials and candidates have been grappling with the potential threat to their own safety. According to an undated memo obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times, several potential officeholders have reached out to Fontes’ office to inquire about using campaign funds for security. “Unfortunately, personal security has become a necessary part of running for and holding elected office,” Fontes wrote in the memo. As a result, Fontes said his office will not open complaints or refer any alleged violations for enforcement based on campaign expenditures made for personal security for candidates or their families. Fontes noted in the memo that spending campaign funds on security is not expressly prohibited by state law, but it isn’t explicitly addressed either. 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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