TikTok ban threatens journalism

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TikTok court dangerously defers to government on national security

The Supreme Court will review a federal appellate court order upholding legislation to effectively ban TikTok in the United States. Before the court agreed to take the case, we wrote about why it should reverse that decision. 

The TikTok ban threatens fundamental free speech principles that have been the law for decades, like the prohibition on prior restraints and the fundamental principle established by the Pentagon Papers case – that the government can’t just scream “national security” as magic words to make the First Amendment disappear. 

Read more about what’s at stake on our website. Our executive director, Trevor Timm, also has a column on the subject in The Guardian. 

Executioners used to hide behind masks. Here’s how they hide now

Indiana is one of two states with laws excluding the media from witnessing executions. The other, Wyoming, hasn’t executed anyone since 1992. 

Indiana, however, executed Joseph Corcoran on Wednesday. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern, along with George Hale, who covers the death penalty for Indiana Public Media, wrote for the Indianapolis Star about Indiana’s “dubious honor of being the national standard bearer for taxpayer-funded secret killings.”  

It turned out that a journalist was able to attend the execution, but only because Corcoran and his lawyer apparently gave one of the seats reserved for friends and family to a journalist. The state shouldn’t put the onus on the condemned to ensure transparency around their own killing. The law needs to change. 

Trump SLAPPs, ABC capitulates, independent outlets suffer

President-elect Donald Trump’s war against the press is multipronged, but this week the facet that got the most attention is his lawfare against news outlets that criticize him — or even report polls he doesn’t like. 

ABC’s agreement to pay him $15 million to settle a defensible lawsuit raises serious concerns about self-censorship by the media during Trump’s second term. As Stern told The Intercept, when outlets like ABC settle, “not only are they putting a target on their back, they’re putting a target on the backs of smaller outlets that don’t have those kinds of legal resources.”

And speaking of smaller outlets, Trump also sued the Des Moines Register for reporting on a poll that proved to be wrong. We told The Washington Post that these lawsuits create “an environment where journalists can’t help but look over their shoulders knowing the incoming administration is on the lookout for any pretext or excuse to come after them.” 

Stern also appeared on Texas Public Radio to discuss the threats to press freedom during Trump’s second term — many of which result from powers Democrats handed him on a silver platter during the Biden administration. 

Presidential library? Not quite

Speaking of that ABC lawsuit, many reports said that the settlement money would go to Trump’s official presidential library. That may have seemed like a silver lining to some. But as our Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper explained, it’s not true. The money will actually go to a foundation that can build propaganda museums that obscure history rather than preserving it. 

Harper explains the long track record of abuses at these presidential museums, and why Congress needs to step in to reform donations to presidential foundations. 

Swifties should unite to find missing U.S. journalist

U.S. journalist Austin Tice has been missing in Syria for 12 years, but the collapse of Bashar Assad’s regime has led to renewed hope that his family might be able to bring him home. 

In Tice’s last tweet before his abduction on Aug. 11, 2012, he wrote that he’d spent that day listening to Taylor Swift’s music at a pool party with members of opposition rebel groups. 

Our deputy director of audience, Ahmed Zidan, calls on Swift and her legion of supporters to bring attention to the case and help bring her fan home.

Substack steps up

Substack and Amazon Web Services were named as co-defendants in a frivolous lawsuit against journalist Jack Poulson. They could have rested their defense on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — which immunizes them from liability for what Poulson publishes on their platforms — but they went above and beyond to defend Poulson’s First Amendment rights. 

As FPF Senior Adviser Caitlin Vogus writes, other platforms that host journalism and third-party speech need to take note. 

What we’re reading

There’s still time for the Senate to support the First Amendment (New York Times). The PRESS Act is bipartisan legislation that’s already passed the House. Sen. Chuck Schumer must not let the most important press freedom bill in modern history die in the Senate. 

Senate to act on drone-tracking bill empowering state, local authorities (The Hill). Even as the Senate fails to pass the PRESS Act and protect the public’s right to know, it finds time for a drone bill that makes it easier for cops to harass journalists. Huh.

Congress again fails to limit scope of spy powers in new defense bill (Wired). This is exactly why you don’t pass overreaching spy bills that give the government unprecedented power to surveil journalists and others, and hope maybe you’ll be able to fix them later.

Judge broke rules by criticizing Justice Alito during flag flap (Wall Street Journal). Let us get this straight: Legitimate criticism of Justice Alito’s behavior is muzzled, while Alito faces no consequences for behavior that undermines his impartiality? Sounds about right for this Supreme Court.

US government tells officials, politicians to ditch regular calls and texts (Reuters). Politicians wouldn’t have end-to-end encrypted messaging services to use after the Chinese hack of our telecom system if they’d succeeded in outlawing it or requiring backdoors for the Chinese and others to break into. Maybe something to think about next time this debate comes up in Congress.

Check out FPF’s new secrecy newsletter, “The Classifieds”

“The Classifieds,” a new FPF newsletter by Harper, our Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy, highlights important secrecy news stories that show how the public is harmed when the government keeps too many secrets. Sign up here to receive “The Classifieds” in your inbox every week.