PEN Points: Disinformation is another untouchable problem in Washington

A computer in a darkened room showing various YouTube links

Disinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington

There is wide agreement across the federal government that coordinated disinformation campaigns threaten to exacerbate public health emergencies, stoke ethnic and racial divisions and even undermine democracy itself. The board’s fate, however, has underscored how deeply partisan the issue has become in Washington, making it nearly impossible to consider addressing the threat.

The failure to act, according to experts, has left openings for new waves of disinformation ahead of November’s midterm elections—and even for violence like the racist massacre at a Buffalo supermarket in May, which was motivated by a baseless conspiracy theory that global forces aimed to “replace” white Americans with immigrants.

U.S. Free Expression Stories

How online searches and texts can put you at risk in a post-Roe world, and how to protect yourself
With the reversal of the landmark ruling, many people are asking for the first time whether digital tools they use may put them or their loved ones at risk. Since the U.S. and most states lack digital privacy laws to safeguard consumer information, it often falls on companies and consumers themselves to protect their privacy online.
CNBC

With rising book bans, librarians have come under attack
As highly visible and politicized book bans have exploded across the country, librarians—accustomed to being seen as dedicated public servants in their communities—have found themselves on the front lines of an acrimonious culture war, with their careers and their personal reputations at risk.
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is in peril
Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter is in serious jeopardy, three people familiar with the matter say, as Musk’s camp concluded that Twitter’s figures on spam accounts are not verifiable. Musk’s team has stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding for the $44 billion deal, including with a party named as a likely backer, one of the people said
THE WASHINGTON POST

The Latest from PEN America

Masked passers-by walk past two large images of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud and King Salman of Saudi Arabia

In Letter to President Biden, 44 Noted Writers Urge Him to Raise Human Rights Abuses Directly with the Crown Prince As He Travels to Saudi Arabia

PEN America released the letter, which was signed by 44 noted authors and journalists—among them award-winning U.S. and international novelists, playwrights, biographers, and historians. The authors, in particular, pointed to Saudi Arabia’s place as the world’s second worst jailer of writers (behind China), and noted attacks on writers, journalists and public intellectuals who are threatened and harassed for expressing their perspectives in their writings and speech. See the full statement.

New-York Historical Society Presents PEN America at 100: A Century of Defending the Written Word, Opening July 22
170 Central Park West (at 77th Street)
New York, NY 10024

PEN America marks a century of work at the forefront of the ever-urgent fight for free expression with an exhibit presenting letters, photographs, posters, awards, and other artifacts dating from 1922 to the present. On view at the New-York Historical Society, PEN America at 100 traces the evolution of the organization from a dining club formed by a handful of well-known writers into a literary and human rights organization that unites authors in defense of the fundamental freedoms to write, read, and speak. Learn more.

Three children lying on the floor reading a book in a library

Failed Bill Brought by Arizona Democrats Would Have Restricted What Teachers Can Teach

Last week, 11 Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives introduced HB 2634, an unsuccessful bill that would have banned from school curricula “any textbook or other instructional material…that contains any matter reflecting adversely on persons on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, nationality, sexual orientation or gender identity.” See our statement in response.

Digital Safety Snacks
Thursday 6/16 - Thursday 7/28 | 12pm ET
Digital Event Series

Journalists are increasingly expected to have an online presence and engage on social media to do their jobs, which can expose them to harassment. But there are concrete steps journalists can take to protect themselves and fight back. This June and July, grab your laptops and your phones and sign up for Safety Snacks! PEN America, the Online News Association, and the International Women’s Media Foundation have joined forces to create step-by-step videos and hands-on workshops on protecting yourself from doxing and hacking, securing your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and Instagram, LinkedIn, and cell phone hygiene. Learn more and register.

Global Free Expression Stories

European Parliament adopts landmark laws for internet platforms
The European Parliament has adopted landmark laws, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) that purports to improve internet consumer protection and supervision of online platforms. The DSA represents the biggest shake-up in EU law in this area in about 20 years and spells out the responsibilities of technology and internet companies.
AL JAZEERA

In Putin’s Russia, the arrests are spreading quickly and widely
The flurry of arrests across the country in recent days has signaled that the Kremlin is intent on tightening the noose around Russian society even further. It appears to be a manifestation of President Putin’s declaration in the early weeks of his war in Ukraine that Russia needed to cleanse itself of pro-Western “scum and traitors,” and it is creating an unmistakable chill. None of the targets of the recent crackdown was an outspoken Kremlin critic. But each of the recent crackdown targets represented an outward-looking Russia that Mr. Putin increasingly describes as an existential threat.
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Mohammed Zubair: The Indian fact-checker arrested for a tweet
For the past 10 days, India's leading fact-checker and journalist Mohammed Zubair, who recently spotlighted the ruling party spokesperson Nupur Sharma's controversial comments against the Prophet Muhammad, has spent most of his time shuttling between prisons and courts. Delhi police arrested him on 27 June over a 2018 tweet for "insulting Hindu religious beliefs". Later, they invoked other charges against him that included criminal conspiracy, destroying evidence and receiving foreign funds.
BBC

Spotlight: Starr Davis

Starr Davis is a poet and essayist whose work has been featured in multiple literary venues such as The Kenyon Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Rumpus, So to Speak and Transition. She is a 2021–2022 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellow and the creative nonfiction editor for TriQuarterly. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the City College of New York and a BA in journalism and creative writing from the University of Akron. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in poetry and creative nonfiction, Best of the Net, and Best American Essays.

Below is an excerpt from Starr’s essay in Catapult, “The Funk of Poverty.”

I sat down at my computer and began to email the editor. My response to them was simple: I have no flowers. I only have the funk of poverty. There is only one way to write trauma, which is to write it. With my infant sucking thirstingly out of her bottle, the smells of baby powder, and a budding fall season outside, I thought of the flower that could be blooming. But this was not what I wanted to say to the editor. It was not what was important. What mattered to me now was the suction of pumps and a mouth. My baby’s life.

Read the full essay.

Get More News, Events, and Updates from PEN America ›

You are receiving this e-mail because you opted in at PEN.org or a PEN America-sponsored event.

manage subscriptions | unsubscribe | contact us