The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech October 24, 2022 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]. Supreme Court Law&Crime: Trump Urges SCOTUS to Overhaul the Internet: Social Media Companies Are Like Railroads and Need to Be Regulated for Fairness By Matt Naham .....Former President Donald Trump continued his longstanding quest to undo Section 230 and deal a blow to Big Tech immunity in the form of an amicus brief Friday, supporting Florida’s parallel efforts at the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump, who was infamously banned from Twitter in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, urged the justices to find in favor of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) and support a state law barring social media platforms from banning political candidates, among other provisions. The Courts Jonathan Turley: The Ninth Circuit Rules That There is no Chilling Effect in Forcing GOP Leaders to Hand Over Phone Records to Democrats .....There is an important ruling out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit this week where a divided panel held that Kelli Ward, the Chair of the Arizona Republican Party and former senatorial candidate, cannot withhold her cell phone records from the January 6th Committee. The impact on political speech could be not just chilling but glacial. The court’s order denied Ward’s request to enjoin T-Mobile from providing her records to the Jan. 6 committee. What is striking about the ruling is the sweeping language employed by Judges Barry Silverman and Eric Miller. I do not view this as a partisan ruling but rather have concern over the dismissive character of the analysis over legitimate concerns raised by the forced disclosure of political associations under the First Amendment. New York Post: Lawsuit reveals vast censorship scheme by Big Tech and the federal government By Miranda Devine .....A little-noticed federal lawsuit, Missouri v. Biden, is uncovering astonishing evidence of an entrenched censorship scheme cooked up between the federal government and Big Tech that would make Communist China proud. So far, 67 officials or agencies — including the FBI — have been accused in the lawsuit of violating the First Amendment by pressuring Facebook, Twitter and Google to censor users for alleged misinformation or disinformation. Donor Privacy People United for Privacy: The Best of 2022 in Free Speech and Citizen Privacy .....Earlier this week, we covered the worst of 2022 in free speech and citizen privacy. To cap off this year’s Free Speech Week, we’re taking a look at the best and ending on a high note. While there is a lot to be concerned about with efforts around the country to target nonprofit donors and harm organizations’ advocacy, there are many bright spots as well. Candidates and Campaigns American Thinker: Which costs more and scares you less: Halloween or campaign spending? By Dan Backer .....Many Americans will spend October stoking fear and building tension, with no shortage of blood-curdling screams. Then there’s Halloween. Over a two-year period, more than $9 billion will be spent on Election 2022. Money will be thrown at Americans to get them to choose between political candidates and parties, just like it will be spent on Marvel costumes, candy corn, and the rest. Between the midterm elections and Halloween celebrations, U.S. spending will total upwards of $20 billion, dominating public discourse. While Halloween spending is driven by market demand and impervious to criticism (as it should be), election-related spending drives some people crazy. To those opposing the ideas to which you direct your spending, those ideas are far scarier than Halloween. Campaign finance “reform” is now a top priority of the Democratic Party, with End Citizens United spokesman Adam Bozzi claiming “it’s both good policy and good politics.” (Side note: End Citizens United, as a nonprofit organization, does not disclose its own donors.) The Left’s insistence on shutting down free speech and free association is strangely obsessive when it comes to politics. It seems as if only speech and association that has to do with the electoral system and the democratic process are worth condemning, even though they form the very foundations of our democracy. Washington Examiner: The GOP's billionaire problem By Jay Cost .....The solution is certainly not to limit the ability of outsiders like Thiel to engage in the public square. Instead, the better option is to reform campaign finance laws to expand the opportunities for parties to integrate their actions with candidates. We had this once before, and were it not for the excesses of Clinton, it was not so bad. Put simply, it’s time to bring back soft money. Online Speech Platforms Washington Post: Documents detail plans to gut Twitter’s workforce By Elizabeth Dwoskin, Faiz Siddiqui, Gerrit De Vynck and Jeremy B. Merrill .....Twitter’s workforce is likely to be hit with massive cuts in the coming months, no matter who owns the company, interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post show, a change likely to have major impact on its ability to control harmful content and prevent data security crises. Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000. New York Times: TikTok failed to stop most misleading political ads in a test run by researchers. By Tiffany Hsu .....TikTok failed to catch 90 percent of ads featuring false and misleading messages about elections, while YouTube and Facebook identified and blocked most of them, according to an experiment run by misinformation researchers, the results of which were released on Friday. The States KIMA: Tim Eyman appeals campaign finance violation charges By Jeff Pohjola, Northwest News Radio .....Anti-tax activist Tim Eyman was in court Thursday, appealing a judge’s finding that he repeatedly and willfully violated campaign finance law. At issue is the Fair Campaign Practices Act, which requires political campaigns to report all donations they receive to the Public Disclosure Commission. Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. 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