In 2025, free speech advocates can point to a genuine turning point—one that would have been difficult to imagine just three years earlier. A series of developments marked meaningful resistance to government censorship, coordinated content moderation, and foreign pressure on American speech norms. This moment represents a sharp break from the early 2020s, when virtually…
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SUMMARY Media and digital literacy lessons in schools emerged as one of the top priorities of the censorship industry under the previous administration, promoted by the US federal government as a means to combat disinformation both domestically and around the world. A labyrinth of nonprofits and private ed-tech companies continue to push media and digital…
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In a Westminster Hall debate this week, the UK’s Minister for Digital Government and Data, Ian Murray, responded to mounting pressure from lawmakers on the role of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in bypassing the Online Safety Act’s enforcement regime. Murray, speaking for the government, made clear that the review of the Act will consider VPNs…
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The European Commission announced on December 4 that it will fine Elon Musk’s X €120 million (approx. $140 million) for non-compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s draconian online censorship regime. The Commission has given X 60 days to provide it with a compliance plan, at the risk of “periodic penalty payments.” Per…
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SUMMARY X became the first American platform to be fined under the EU’s Digital Services Act, receiving a €120 million penalty after allegedly refusing to open up its data to “disinformation researchers.” Disinformation researchers are critical to online censorship – they are the ones who compile databases of disfavored speech and the advertisers that fund…
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Britain’s online safety regulator has taken a new and far more aggressive step in its campaign to impose UK internet rules on foreign platforms. Newly released correspondence shows Ofcom informing 4chan Community Support LLC that it is expanding its investigation into the American message board to include alleged violations of the United Kingdom’s “Protection of…
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In November, the European Commission unveiled the European Democracy Shield, aimed at enforcing and implementing the EU’s draconian online censorship regime, codified in the Digital Services Act (DSA). The continent-wide initiative includes: A new “Digital Services Act Incidents and Crisis Protocol” to ensure the EU can rapidly coordinate with tech platforms to take down offending…
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Across Western democracies, governments and elite policy networks are increasingly bundling digital identity systems with “anti-misinformation” and “online safety” agendas, treating both as mutually reinforcing components of a new information-governance architecture. This is increasingly visible in foreign bodies: the European Union, Australia, Canada, and the globalist World Economic Forum (WEF) ecosystem, where identity-verification and speech-regulation…
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SUMMARY Media Literacy Now is a nonprofit that advocates for media & digital literacy lessons in K12 schools to train American children to avoid “disinformation.” It’s arguably the most influential such nonprofit in the U.S., with paid advocacy leaders in 23 states including Arizona, Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, Montana, North Carolina, and Utah. MLN material was…
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In recent years, an expansive network of “media literacy” organizations has quietly achieved major, statewide policy victories across the country, reshaping K–12 curriculum and state education standards. Media literacy has become a top priority of the global censorship industry, including the U.S. federal government under the previous administration. Media literacy initiatives were funded by the…
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