First Amendment News

The Trump administration is providing the public a tool to report political bias in the social media. The tool is its response to bans of extreme voices on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Users are asked to post screenshots of political bias and to explain what happened to their social media account and if a particular post was singled out. An industry spokesperson said internet companies respect the political views of their viewers and have no

In yet another hostile move against the press, the Trump administration instituted a new rule restricting press access to the White House. The rule requires journalists to be at the White House for at least 90 days in a 180-day period to receive a “hard pass” that allows them to enter White House ground without asking for permission each time. No member of the press met that requirement. Reporters can apply for exceptions, but some

CNN may lose its bid in the California Supreme Court to use the state’s anti-SLAPP law to block a black ex-producer’s discrimination lawsuit. The anti-SLAPP law protects free speech from lawsuits when public interest is at stake. Justice Carol Corrigan questioned whether the court had to choose between First Amendment freedoms and blocking plaintiffs from bringing discrimination lawsuits. CNN argued that editorial decisions including hiring and assignments qualify as contributing to public speech under the

Law professor Steven K. Green in Church & State Magazine, May 2019, describes how the Minnesota Prayer Caucus tried to pressure the Minnesota Historical Society into cancelling his lecture on the myth that the United States was founded on the Christian religion. Green gave the speech, but says that the society made a disturbing concession, “To the disappointment of many regular attendees, the society self-censored by deciding not to distribute an accompanying brochure containing quotations and

To combat extreme and inaccurate information on its platforms, Facebook and its prodigy Instagram are banning Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Louis Farakhan, the latter for making anti-Semitic remarks. The company is also banning the lessor knowns Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer and Paul Nehlen. The company said they have always banned accounts that promote or engage in violence and hate. (The Atlantic, May 2, 2019, by Taylor Lorenz) Observing that the First Amendment protects