A round-up of the latest and best insight on the rise of illiberalism in the public discourse:
Rebeka Zeljko: The Daily Caller Was Discreetly Censored, Now Companies Are Playing The Blame Game
A reader logging onto the public Wi-Fi at Burlington International Airport — a city-run airport in Vermont — tried to open a Daily Caller article and hit a block screen labeling the site “Contentious & Misinformation.”
At the Caller, Rebeka Zeljko traces the block through a round of finger-pointing: the airport says it didn’t do it, its Wi-Fi carrier, Purple WiFi, points to settings chosen by either the airport or its third-party content filter, and the filter company, DNSFilter, says customers choose what to block, while confirming it had sorted the Caller into its misinformation category. Its message to the Caller:
“We don’t make editorial judgments about individual news outlets.” Although they claimed not to make “editorial judgments,” DNSFilter admitted that they grouped the Daily Caller as part of the “misinformation” category.
“We group millions and millions of domains into categories for ease of management, so yes, those are samples of hundreds of categories that customers can choose from,” DNSFilter told the Caller. “What each customer chooses to filter as their policy is their choice.”
Although DNSFilter doesn’t enable the content filter themselves, they appear to encourage their customers to do so.
“The category is defined as sites that are contentious, often causing argument or controversy, characterized by strong opposing arguments, as well as sites that spread or aid in the spreading of misinformation,” the website reads. “This category can have a negative impact on productivity, as well as company culture.””
Ben Smith: COVID Was Just the Beginning: New Docs Reveal Biden’s Bigger Censorship Plans
Records obtained through FOIA by the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust show former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s office strategizing in 2021 about pressing tech platforms over “misinformation.” At RedState, Ben Smith zeroes in on a May 2021 exchange in which a Murthy policy adviser suggested framing the effort around health and medical misinformation generally, not just COVID. Smith’s verdict:
“So much for the temporary emergency justification.” Officials were already considering a much larger role for the federal government in deciding what Americans should be allowed to discuss.
Another memorandum, prepared for Murthy’s “misinformation tiger team” (yes, that was a real thing), outlined an approach involving “maximum pressure” on social media companies. It also celebrated the temporary suspension of then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s account as “momentum” toward removing more accounts.
The same memorandum acknowledged that the campaign could politicize the Surgeon General’s office by involving it in a “social media/censorship war.”
Apparently, that wasn’t enough to discourage anyone.
The College Fix: Rutgers student sues school over arrest for hanging ‘anti-Hamas fliers’
Yiorgos Maravelias, a disabled veteran and former Rutgers law student, is suing the university for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights after he hung anti-Hamas fliers near an anti-Israel encampment in May 2024. According to his complaint, a law professor tore his fliers off a bulletin board and told him posting them was against school policy — even though anti-Israel fliers hung in the same spot — and he says a dean later told them no such policy existed (the professor disputes his account of that meeting).
When he went back to post more, campus police warned they’d arrest him if he didn’t stop, and he ended up charged with disorderly conduct. His stance, as quoted by the Fix:
“I’m not gonna let anybody censor me while I’m participating in free speech.” According to the suit, Maravelias is demanding a jury trial, “compensatory damages,” attorneys’ fees, and “other and further relief as th[e] court deems just and equitable.”
In 2021, Maravelias was highlighted by the Rutgers Business School, noting he was “on his path to pursue his JD and MBA degrees.”
According to her faculty page, Aziz’s research deals with “the intersection of national security, race, religion, and civil rights with a focus on the adverse impact of national security laws and policies on racial, religious, and ethnic minorities.”
Under the “Why We Exist” section of its website, the Center for Security, Race and Rights states “Since the September 11th attacks, Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities have faced increased discrimination and prejudice. A lack of knowledge about these diverse communities facilitates false stereotypes associating them and Islam with terrorism.”
Around X
The Media Research Center says the Biden administration put $750,000 in taxpayer money toward helping blacklist conservative media, with NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index pushing advertisers to cut off disfavored outlets.
Britain's Public Office (Accountability) Bill would create a new criminal offense of "misleading the public" for public officials, punishable by up to two years in prison. The Free Speech Union reports that its general secretary, Lord Young, moved an amendment so officials, ministers included, can't be prosecuted for "misleading the public."
Also in the UK, Katie Lam argues that Angela Rayner's "Islamophobia definition" (officially framed as a definition of "anti-Muslim hostility") is designed to shut down free speech, making it harder to tell the truth about extremism and grooming gangs in the UK. She asks why Rayner still won't say who helped write it.
