E-Pluribus | July 14, 2026
America's 1A hypocrisy? Britain wants your algorithm to prefer the BBC. Fort Worth cops are still workshopping free speech.
A round-up of the latest and best insight on the rise of illiberalism in the public discourse:
Tom Durante: Jake Tapper Torches ‘Mr. First Amendment’ Trump as Free Speech Hypocrite
CNN’s Jake Tapper spent several minutes of Monday night’s Lead running through President Trump’s record on protecting freedom of the press, concluding the administration’s rhetoric about protecting speech hasn’t aged well:
Mr. First Amendment has turned out to be anything but … We have seen the president target free speech. Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert come to mind. But his disdain for freedom of the press is even more direct. Doesn’t go through oligarchs. Friday, the Trump Justice Department took the outrageous step of subpoenaing four New York Times journalists after their report on safety concerns over the president’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One plane.
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But going after reporters, it’s just downright un-American. And it’s just the latest in a string of deeply concerning escalations. The White House barred Associated Press reporters from Air Force One and Oval Office meetings because the AP did not change their style to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Remember, the AP is read all over the world, and we’re the only ones that call it the Gulf of America.
The Pentagon tried to impose broad restrictions on reporters, barring them from the building if they didn’t agree to them. Both restrictions have been challenged in court.
The Telegraph: Congress tells Britain’s culture secretary to back off American platforms
Britain’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy wants social media platforms to give algorithmic priority to “trusted” outlets like the BBC and ITV, framed as a defense against misinformation. Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee see it differently: a foreign government picking media winners and leaning on American companies to do the enforcing:
Members of the US Congress have warned Lisa Nandy that plans to prioritise the BBC and other government-trusted news sources are an attack on free speech. The Culture Secretary announced in June that the government was considering requiring platforms such as Meta, Google and YouTube to give greater prominence to content from public media services such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
The government said it was part of a broader push to tighten regulation of the sector and combat misinformation. But the move has faced scrutiny from American-owned tech companies, who say they are being unfairly targeted. In a letter to Ms Nandy on Tuesday shared with The Telegraph, Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House judiciary committee and an ally of Donald Trump, said the rule “would serve as a major threat” to online speech and “infringe on the rights of American companies.”
The Star-Telegram: Fort Worth police insist the citation was about volume, not viewpoint
A Fort Worth officer, caught on camera at Trinity Pride Fest, told a Christian street preacher that offensive speech could get him ticketed — then, when pressed on whether misgendering someone was off-limits, called it a “gray area.”
Days later, the department walked it back, saying the actual citation was for a noise-ordinance violation, not the preacher’s message. Maybe the citation really was about decibels. But the statement doesn’t erase what’s on tape, and the U.S. Justice Department has apparently noticed too:
The Justice Department is weighing whether to launch an investigation into the Fort Worth Police Department’s handling of an event at Trinity Pride Fest in June that prompted the department to give officers a refresher on First Amendment rights.
On June 27, Fort Worth PD officers cited a person for disorderly conduct after street preachers were speaking into bullhorns near Trinity Pride in Fort Worth’s Near Southside neighborhood. Videos posted on Facebook and X show the street preachers speaking with police officers when one of the preachers asks if someone can be cited for misgendering a transgender person. “We’re talking gray area right now,” an officer responds. “I don’t believe I would cite that for offensive language.”
Around X
Preston Byrne, the American lawyer representing 4chan, had a blunt response after Ofcom said it would enlist U.S. law enforcement to help collect a UK speech-code fine from a company with no assets, staff, or servers in Britain: “legally illiterate,” and an invitation to try it in an American courtroom.
The Redheaded Libertarian marks the anniversary of the Sedition Act of 1798, which made it a crime to publish "false, scandalous, and malicious" criticism of the government and landed at least one newspaper editor in prison for calling John Adams names.
The backlash cost Adams the White House — a 226-year-old reminder that governments punishing "offensive" speech has a way of backfiring on the people doing the punishing.
Declan Ganley shares clips of the late Ann Widdecombe defending free speech at the Oxford Union, calling it "worth your time." Coming from a former Tory minister and one of Fleet Street's most reliable culture-war combatants, it's a fitting send-off — and a reminder that the argument for saying unpopular things out loud used to be a mainstream position, not a fringe one.
