The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech November 7, 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]. Biden Administration Daily Caller: SZABO: This Is The Biggest Threat To American Free Speech By Carl Szabo .....While liberals and congressional Democrats want us to think Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is the “death of democracy,” they’re hiding the real threat to free speech – government. We thought the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Orwellian Disinformation Governance Board, a de-facto ministry of truth, was bad. But it turns out the Biden administration has been working to seize control of online speech under the guise of “disinformation.” New, leaked documents from DHS show that the department’s efforts to police “misinformation” online is worse than we thought. The Courts Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Government Entity's Excluding "Off-Topic" Comments on Social Media Posts May Be Constitutional By Eugene Volokh .....From Krasno v. Mnookin, decided yesterday by Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker (W.D. Wisc.): National Review: Doctors Sue Newsom Administration over Medical ‘Misinformation’ Law By Brittany Bernstein .....Five physicians are challenging a California “misinformation” law that would allow the state medical board to discipline doctors who disseminate information about Covid-19 that diverges from the “contemporary scientific consensus.” Reason: This Professor Was Fired for Her Political Speech. Now, She's Getting Her Job Back. By Emma Camp .....A college professor fired for supporting union activity and the removal of Confederate statues will get her job back, following a settlement agreement reached on Thursday. Independent Groups OpenSecrets: ‘Dark money’ groups aligned with party leadership steer hundreds of millions of dollars into 2022 federal elections By Anna Massoglia .....“Dark money” groups aligned with the Republican and Democratic parties’ congressional leadership have steered more than $295 million from secret donors into 2022 federal elections, a new OpenSecrets analysis found. Online Speech Platforms Washington Post: This year, GOP election deniers got a free pass from Twitter and Facebook By Naomi Nix, Jeremy B. Merrill and Hayden Godfrey .....For years, Facebook and Twitter have pledged to fight falsehoods that could confuse users about America’s electoral system by tagging questionable posts with accurate information about voting and removing rule-breaking misinformation. But this electoral cycle, at least 26 candidates have posted inaccurate election claims since April, but the platforms have done virtually nothing to refute them, according to a Washington Post review of the companies’ misinformation labeling practices. Candidates and Campaigns New York Times: Fed Up With Political Text Messages? Read On. By Natasha Singer .....In October, people in the United States received an estimated 1.29 billion political text messages — about twice as many as in April — according to RoboKiller, an app that blocks Robocalls and spam texts. Many voters have complaints about it. In response to recent questions from The New York Times, more than 940 readers across the political spectrum shared their experiences, describing a hail of inflammatory messages from both parties... The campaign messages not only capture some voters’ deep frustrations with unwanted political texts. They also document how political texting is becoming a go-to method for spreading doomsday scenarios, lies and campaign smears. In other words, texting is a handy method for political actors to quietly propagate the same kind of divisiveness and disinformation that already abounds on social media — only away from the public scrutiny of academic researchers, fact-checking groups and journalists. The States and D.C. Washington Post: D.C. elections board denies Silverman’s request to vacate ruling on Ward 3 poll By Michael Brice-Saddler .....The D.C. Board of Elections ruled Friday that city council member Elissa Silverman’s due-process rights were not violated when the Office of Campaign Finance determined that she misspent public campaign funds on polling for the Ward 3 Democratic primary, despite her objections about the breadth and timeline of the probe. OC Register: California campaign finance law could lead to big change for local politics By Andre Mouchard .....A new campaign finance law aimed at bringing more transparency to local politics soon figures to reshape the role of money in virtually every city and county office in California. But how the rule known as SB 1439 will play out in real life is a subject of sharp debate. Supporters believe the rule will work as intended, and at least curb so-called “pay-to-play” corruption by requiring local officials to declare even more openly than they do now who they get money from and avoid voting to help those specific donors... But critics predict the opposite. They say the new rule will take power away from people and businesses that support local politicians and transfer it to anonymous corporate backers of political action committees and independent operators, entities that increasingly influence even small-money, local campaigns. OBP: Facebook parent company Meta ordered to pay more than $35 million to Washington By Elizabeth Castillo .....Meta was recently ordered to pay nearly $25 million in fines for violating Washington’s campaign finance disclosure rules. The company has been charged the maximum fine for violating the state’s Fair Campaign Practices Act, which was approved by voters in 1972. Then, the company received an additional fine of $10.5 million to cover attorney fees for the state of Washington. Bob Ferguson, the state’s attorney general, filed the lawsuit against the company. He joins us with details about the penalty. 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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