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  31. <title>Trump Threatens, Then Sues Murdoch Over Epstein Story Using Tactics His Supporters Used To Call A &#8216;Massive Attack on Free Speech’</title>
  32. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/trump-threatens-murdoch-over-epstein-story-using-tactics-his-supporters-used-to-call-a-massive-attack-on-free-speech/</link>
  33. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/trump-threatens-murdoch-over-epstein-story-using-tactics-his-supporters-used-to-call-a-massive-attack-on-free-speech/#comments</comments>
  35. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  36. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 22:15:47 +0000</pubDate>
  37. <category><![CDATA[news corp.]]></category>
  38. <category><![CDATA[wsj]]></category>
  39. <category><![CDATA[1st amendment]]></category>
  40. <category><![CDATA[coercion]]></category>
  41. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  42. <category><![CDATA[free speech]]></category>
  43. <category><![CDATA[jeffrey epstein]]></category>
  44. <category><![CDATA[murthy v. missouri]]></category>
  45. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=508121</guid>
  46.  
  47. <description><![CDATA[Donald Trump admitted yesterday that he called Rupert Murdoch and demanded the Wall Street Journal kill its story about Trump&#8217;s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. When Murdoch couldn&#8217;t deliver, Trump promised to sue the media company and gleefully looked forward to putting Murdoch on the witness stand. Update: Just as this story was going live, it [&#8230;]]]></description>
  48. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Donald Trump admitted yesterday that he called Rupert Murdoch and demanded the Wall Street Journal kill its story about Trump&#8217;s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. When Murdoch couldn&#8217;t deliver, Trump promised to sue the media company and gleefully looked forward to putting Murdoch on the witness stand. <strong>Update: </strong>Just as this story was going live, it was reported that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/donald-trump-sues-dow-jones-news-corp-rupert-murdoch-wsj-reporters-libel-court-2025-07-18/">he had, in fact, sued</a>. We&#8217;ll write about the details of the lawsuit as they become clear.</p>
  49. <p>This is the exact type of behavior that Trump&#8217;s supporters spent years claiming represented &#8220;arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history&#8221; when they falsely accused the Biden administration of doing <em>far</em> less.</p>
  50. <p>I understand that we live in an era of blatant hypocrisy where “it’s okay if a Republican does it” is the norm, but I wanted to call out how directly similar this scenario is.</p>
  51. <p>For the past few years, we covered the Missouri v. Biden (later, Murthy v. Missouri) case through all its twists and turns. The underlying claim in the case from the states, and a few social media users who had their accounts restricted in some form or another, was that there was a huge First Amendment violation by the Biden administration because it had spoken to social media companies asking them about their policies regarding fighting disinformation on things around Covid.</p>
  52. <p>The case was built on <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2023/09/11/5th-circuit-cleans-up-district-courts-silly-jawboning-ruling-about-the-biden-admin-trims-it-down-to-more-accurately-reflect-the-1st-amendment/">out-of-context</a> communications and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/03/07/biden-admin-finally-points-out-that-the-record-in-the-murthy-case-is-all-lies/">outright lies</a>, but Trump-appointed Judge Terry Doughty ruled that the Biden administration asking social media companies to explain their editorial policies was &#8220;arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.&#8221;</p>
  53. <p>The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2024/06/26/supreme-court-sees-through-the-nonsense-rejects-lower-courts-rulings-regarding-social-media-moderation/">dismissed the case</a> for lack of standing, but the legal standard the Trump-supporting MAGA lawyers presented is crucial here. Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguinaga argued that any government &#8220;ask&#8221; to media companies about their editorial choices violates the First Amendment:</p>
  54. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  55. <p><em>JUSTICE KAGAN: So, I mean, what about that? I mean, you know, take a — an example where — I mean, these platforms, they’re compilers of speech, and some part of the government, let’s call it part of the law enforcement arm of the government, says you might not realize it, but you are hosting a lot of terrorist speech, which is going to increase the chances that there’s going to be some terrible harm that’s going to take place, and we want to give you this information, we want to try to persuade you to take it down.</em></p>
  56. <p><em>Are — are — the government can’t do that?</em></p>
  57. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA: The government can absolutely do that, Justice Kagan.</em></p>
  58. <p><em>JUSTICE KAGAN: They’re taking —</em></p>
  59. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA: Terrorist activity, criminal —</em></p>
  60. <p><em>JUSTICE KAGAN: — they’re — they’re asking them to take down the speech.</em></p>
  61. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA: Terrorist activity, criminal activity, that is not protected speech. Absolutely, the government can inform the — the</em></p>
  62. <p><em>JUSTICE KAGAN: Well, that might — might be protected speech. I mean, terrorists engage in, you know, things that come under the First Amendment. I mean, let’s say they’re just recruiting people for their organizations.</em></p>
  63. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA: Your Honor, if it’s First Amendment speech, protected speech, then I think we’re in an entirely different world.</em></p>
  64. </blockquote>
  65. <p>More directly, when Justice Kavanaugh asked about government officials telling media companies they should take down &#8220;factually erroneous information,&#8221; Aguinaga said that crosses the constitutional line:</p>
  66. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  67. <p><em>JUSTICE KAVANAUGH: And one thing that I think I want to square up with you is if someone calls and — or contacts the social media company and says what you have there, this post, has factually erroneous information, so not a viewpoint that we disagree with, factually erroneous information, and the social media company says, we’ll take a look at that and — and you still think that’s significant encouragement that qualifies as coercion, if they take it down in response to concluding that it, in fact, is factually erroneous?</em></p>
  68. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA: No, Your Honor.</em> <strong><em>If there’s no ask from the government</em></strong><em>, if the government’s just saying here’s our view of the statement —</em></p>
  69. <p><em>JUSTICE KAVANAUGH: Okay. And we think it should be — it should be taken down, it’s up to you, but</em> <strong><em>we think it should be taken down</em></strong><em>.</em></p>
  70. <p><em>MR. AGUINAGA:</em> <strong><em>I think that’s a harder case</em></strong> <em>for me. I guess, you know, if you think it is a close case decide it under the First Amendment.</em></p>
  71. </blockquote>
  72. <p>So by the legal standard Trump&#8217;s own lawyers established, any government request to suppress media coverage violates the First Amendment. Now let&#8217;s see how Trump himself measures up.</p>
  73. <p>Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal published a story claiming that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter-we-have-certain-things-in-common-f918d796?mod=hp_lead_pos7">Trump and Epstein had a very close relationship</a>, focusing on a supposed birthday card Trump allegedly created for Epstein. Trump&#8217;s response was his usual cry of “fake news!” about anything he dislikes but—more importantly—involves him admitting he had <strong>directly pressured Murdoch to kill the story</strong>:</p>
  74. <div class="wp-block-image">
  75. <figure class="aligncenter"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/lex-img-p.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/img/a10d9a23-e8dc-4100-b098-2d2cf2e074c2-RackMultipart20250718-183-3hw1v.png?ssl=1" alt=""/></figure>
  76. </div>
  77. <p>If you can’t see the image, here’s the text of Trump’s rambling:</p>
  78. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  79. <p><strong><em>The Wall Street Journal, and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump</em></strong> <em>that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it,</em> <strong><em>they will be sued. Mr. Murdoch stated that he would take care of it</em></strong> <em>but, obviously, did not have the power to do so. The Editor of The Wall Street Journal,</em> <strong><em>Emma Tucker, was told directly by Karoline Leavitt, and by President Trump,</em></strong> <em>that the letter was a FAKE, but Emma Tucker didn’t want to hear that. Instead, they are going with a false, malicious, and defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Mr. Murdoch, shortly. The Press has to learn to be truthful, and not rely on sources that probably don’t even exist. President Trump has already beaten George Stephanopoulos/ABC, 60 Minutes/CBS, and others, and looks forward to suing and holding accountable the once great Wall Street Journal. It has truly turned out to be a “Disgusting and Filthy Rag” and, writing defamatory lies like this, shows their desperation to remain relevant. If there were any truth at all on the Epstein Hoax, as it pertains to President Trump, this information would have been revealed by Comey, Brennan, Crooked Hillary, and other Radical Left Lunatics years ago. It certainly would not have sat in a file waiting for “TRUMP” to have won three Elections. This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS!</em></p>
  80. </blockquote>
  81. <p>This isn&#8217;t just government pressure—it&#8217;s a sitting president threatening to weaponize the courts against media for editorial decisions over what he claims is “erroneous information.” By Trump&#8217;s own supporters&#8217; legal standard, this is a textbook First Amendment violation. Perhaps the most massive attack against free speech in the history of the United States. (Update: as noted above, it&#8217;s now being reported that the lawsuit has been filed, which we&#8217;ll cover in a follow-up story).</p>
  82. <p>He didn’t just ask them not to publish the thing, he told them he would sue them if they published and has now said he’s going to sue Murdoch’s “ass off.”</p>
  83. <div class="wp-block-image">
  84. <figure class="aligncenter"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/lex-img-p.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/img/36d3afd6-8a53-4584-8f8b-0edf1c7e8add-RackMultipart20250718-142-5847ft.png?ssl=1" alt=""/></figure>
  85. </div>
  86. <p>Compare this to what the Biden administration actually did: some officials sent less than polite emails to social media companies asking about their misinformation policies. No threats. No lawsuits. No demands for specific content removal. Yet Trump&#8217;s supporters called that &#8220;the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.&#8221;</p>
  87. <p>Trump is doing exactly what the MAGA world spent years accusing Biden of doing, except with explicit threats and promised retaliation. And it&#8217;s crickets from the free speech warriors who spent four years screaming about government pressure on media.</p>
  88. <p>The inevitable defense will be &#8220;but this was fake news, so of course he can do that.&#8221; But Biden officials also believed they were pointing to misinformation—and they never threatened personal lawsuits against media executives for editorial decisions.</p>
  89. <p>Again, I get it. We judge the MAGA world on a curve. Everyone expects them to be authoritarian hypocritical censorial asshats, so it’s not news when they are.</p>
  90. <p>We&#8217;ve normalized authoritarian behavior by expecting it from Trump, but this deserves attention. A sitting president threatening to sue media companies and their owners for editorial decisions isn&#8217;t just hypocrisy—it&#8217;s the kind of direct government coercion that actually violates the First Amendment.</p>
  91. <p>And yes, part of the problem is that the media keeps capitulating every time Trump does this. <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/">CBS and ABC</a> each paid millions of dollars to Trump over bogus lawsuits. So did <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/01/30/meta-pays-trump-25m-protection-money-after-mar-a-lago-offer/">Meta</a>. This has only emboldened Trump. Media capitulation and kowtowing has taught Trump that he can bully and sue media companies to silence them. All of this is an actual First Amendment violating attack on speech.</p>
  92. <p>The silence from Trump&#8217;s supposed free speech defenders says everything about how seriously they actually take the principles they claim to champion.</p>
  93. ]]></content:encoded>
  95. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/trump-threatens-murdoch-over-epstein-story-using-tactics-his-supporters-used-to-call-a-massive-attack-on-free-speech/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  96. <slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
  99. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">508121</post-id> </item>
  100. <item>
  101. <title>Creative Industries, Creators &#038; Creatives</title>
  102. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/creative-industries-creators-creatives/</link>
  103. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/creative-industries-creators-creatives/#comments</comments>
  105. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  106. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 20:37:06 +0000</pubDate>
  107. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  108. <category><![CDATA[ai]]></category>
  109. <category><![CDATA[creative industries]]></category>
  110. <category><![CDATA[creativity and ai]]></category>
  111. <category><![CDATA[creators]]></category>
  112. <category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
  113. <category><![CDATA[human touch]]></category>
  114. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=508061</guid>
  115.  
  116. <description><![CDATA[This&#160;series of posts&#160;explores how we can rethink the intersection of AI, creativity, and policy. From examining outdated regulatory metaphors to questioning copyright norms and highlighting the risks of stifling innovation, each post addresses a different piece of the AI puzzle. Together, they advocate for a more balanced, forward-thinking approach that acknowledges the potential of technological [&#8230;]]]></description>
  117. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This&nbsp;<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/creativity-and-ai/">series of posts</a>&nbsp;explores how we can rethink the intersection of AI, creativity, and policy. From examining outdated regulatory metaphors to questioning copyright norms and highlighting the risks of stifling innovation, each post addresses a different piece of the AI puzzle. Together, they advocate for a more balanced, forward-thinking approach that acknowledges the potential of technological evolution while safeguarding the rights of creators and ensuring AI’s development serves the broader interests of society. You can read the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/20/the-way-forward-for-ai-learning-from-the-elephant-the-blind-men/">first post</a></em> <em>and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/27/creativity-technological-evolution/">second post</a> in the series.</em></p>
  118. <p>In policy circles, <em>creative industries</em> have become the loudest voices in copyright debates. The problem? They are often mistaken for representing creativity itself, or even protecting individual creators and culture. But let&#8217;s get one thing straight: <strong>creativity</strong> is very different from the <strong>creative industries</strong>—as different as music is from the music business. Think <em>The Beatles vs. Bad Boy Records</em>: not the same vibe!</p>
  119. <p>The creative industries are an economic concept, an <a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/cultural/resources/reports/the-birth-of-the-creative-industries-revisited.pdf">invention</a> of the British government in 1997 under Tony Blair. This was when the Creative Industries Task Force was born, bringing together sectors like advertising, design, fashion, film, music, and software—all under one umbrella. We&#8217;re talking about a vast range, from <strong>opera and ballet</strong> to <strong>architecture</strong>, <strong>advertising and video games</strong>. This is way beyond what most people think of as &#8220;culture.&#8221; And let’s not even talk about the <a href="https://coalition4creativity.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/COPYRIGHT-MYTHS-FACTSHEET1-23062014.pdf">hodgepodge concept</a> of IPR-intensive industries waved by the Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and European Patent Office (EPO), which covers pretty much any company that filed patents or geographical indications, from McDonalds to the wonderful vendors of Prosciutto di Parma.</p>
  120. <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Who’s Who in the Creative Industry?</strong></h2>
  121. <p>When talking about the creative industries, it’s important to differentiate between the players involved. There are <strong>rightsholders</strong>, who may be those producing and distributing content, or sometimes simply financial investors—think <em>Scooter Braun vs. Taylor Swift</em>. Then there are the <strong>creators</strong> themselves, who often don’t even own the rights to what they’ve created. And of course, there are all the other people who work in the industry—from “creatives” to those in support roles, just like in any other industry.</p>
  122. <p>This complexity becomes crucial when considering AI. As we’ve seen with the Hollywood writers&#8217; strike, the creative industry is already embracing AI, viewing it as either a new creative tool or a cost-cutting measure that could replace human jobs. That’s the &#8220;industries&#8221; part of the label—a business-driven focus that doesn’t necessarily align with the interests of individual creators or the broader value of creativity.</p>
  123. <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>AI, Authenticity, and the Human Touch</strong></h2>
  124. <p>The real challenges posed by AI aren’t limited to copyright or creative rights—they&#8217;re about the future of work and how we value human contribution in an automated world. To understand the human creator’s role, let’s take a look at the evolution of <strong>electronic dance music (EDM)</strong>. As Douglas Rushkoff <a href="https://rushkoff.substack.com/p/artificial-creativity">describes</a>, EDM started with anonymous techno raves, with the DJ barely visible or hidden entirely. Over time, the DJ became the centerpiece, part of the spectacle—because <em>humans relate to humans</em>. This dynamic isn’t going to change with AI.</p>
  125. <p>Or, as Dan Graham, owner of Gothic Storm Limited and Founder of the Library of the Human Soul, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-threat-future-production-music-industry-dan-graham-5sxue/">puts it</a>: <em>&#8220;We&#8217;re suckers for a backstory and authenticity. We hate knock-offs, even if they’re perfect. Fake Rolexes, forged artwork—it doesn’t matter how good it is, the real thing is always worth more, because we care.&#8221;</em> AI might make flawless imitations, but the value of human creativity, authenticity, and connection remains unmatched.</p>
  126. <p>So, while AI will certainly change the creative industries, it won&#8217;t replace the core of creativity—the human spirit, storytelling, and the authenticity we all crave as fans.</p>
  127. <p><em>Caroline De Cock is a communications and policy expert, author, and entrepreneur. She serves as Managing Director of N-square Consulting and Square-up Agency, and Head of Research at Information Labs. Caroline specializes in digital rights, policy advocacy, and strategic innovation, driven by her commitment to fostering global connectivity and positive change.</em></p>
  128. ]]></content:encoded>
  130. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/creative-industries-creators-creatives/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  131. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
  134. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">508061</post-id> </item>
  135. <item>
  136. <title>DHS: Filming Cops, ICE Officers is A &#8216;Violent Tactic&#8217;</title>
  137. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-filming-cops-ice-officers-is-a-violent-tactic/</link>
  138. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-filming-cops-ice-officers-is-a-violent-tactic/#comments</comments>
  140. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tim Cushing]]></dc:creator>
  141. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 19:05:15 +0000</pubDate>
  142. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  143. <category><![CDATA[dhs]]></category>
  144. <category><![CDATA[ice]]></category>
  145. <category><![CDATA[jric]]></category>
  146. <category><![CDATA[mass deporation]]></category>
  147. <category><![CDATA[police accountability]]></category>
  148. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=507358&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=507358</guid>
  149.  
  150. <description><![CDATA[The DHS has been hyping assault stats for weeks, making it sound like there&#8217;s an actual war on ICE officers. The reality was much more underwhelming: the 700% increase touted in press releases reflected a mere 69 more assaults on officers than during the same period in 2024. Hardly worth remarking on, especially since ICE [&#8230;]]]></description>
  151. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The DHS has been hyping assault stats for weeks, making it sound like there&#8217;s an actual war on ICE officers. The reality was much more underwhelming: <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/assaults-on-ice-officers-are-up-700-which-just-means-there-have-been-69-more-assaults-than-last-year/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/02/assaults-on-ice-officers-are-up-700-which-just-means-there-have-been-69-more-assaults-than-last-year/">the 700% increase touted in press releases</a> reflected a mere <em>69</em> more assaults on officers than during the same period in 2024. Hardly worth remarking on, especially since ICE enforcement activities have exponentially exploded during the same time period as the agency does everything it can (legal or not) to hit Trump advisor Stephen Miller&#8217;s 3,000-arrests-per-day quota. </p>
  152. <p>But <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/09/trump-ice-have-earned-every-bit-of-the-hatred-theyre-now-facing/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/09/trump-ice-have-earned-every-bit-of-the-hatred-theyre-now-facing/">anything opposed to ICE</a> must be portrayed as dangerous, if not a direct, literal assault on the law and law enforcement officers. Presenting context-free stats and referring to any protest as &#8220;violent&#8221; aids and abets <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/09/trump-administration-sends-marines-to-site-of-anti-ice-protests/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/09/trump-administration-sends-marines-to-site-of-anti-ice-protests/">Trump&#8217;s martial law plans</a> for the nation by justifying the administration&#8217;s decision to send a few thousand soldiers to Los Angeles, California. </p>
  153. <p>It&#8217;s only going to get stupider and more dangerous. <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/dhs-tells-police-that-common-protest-activities-are-violent-tactics/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.wired.com/story/dhs-tells-police-that-common-protest-activities-are-violent-tactics/">Dell Cameron of Wired was given access to a recent bulletin</a> issued to law enforcement by the DHS. The document was obtained via a public records request by nonprofit group, <a href="https://propertyofthepeople.org/" data-type="link" data-id="https://propertyofthepeople.org/">Property of the People</a>. (The group has yet to <a href="https://propertyofthepeople.org/documentcloud-data/" data-type="link" data-id="https://propertyofthepeople.org/documentcloud-data/">post the document at its site</a>, however, so we can&#8217;t actually see it for ourselves at the moment. But click through anyway, because it may be posted by the time this post has been published on Techdirt.)</p>
  154. <p>The bulletin apparently kicks off by blaming the media for inflaming hatred towards ICE and creating an atmosphere conducive to &#8220;embracement of anti-ICE messaging.&#8221; Noem&#8217;s DHS would never, under any circumstances, suggest it might be Trump&#8217;s policies, as well as ICE officers&#8217; insistence on hiding everything but their eyes during raids, that might be causing this, um, &#8220;embracement&#8221; of anti-ICE sentiment.</p>
  155. <p>After making far more credible points about a small minority of protesters who may be armed with anything from glass bottles to rocks to &#8220;paint-filled fire extinguishers,&#8221; the bulletin moves on to portray pretty much <em>anything</em> anti-ICE protesters do as &#8220;violent tactics.&#8221; </p>
  156. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  157. <p><em>[T]he guidance urges officers to consider a range of nonviolent behavior and common protest gear—like masks, flashlights, and cameras—as potential precursors to violence, telling officers to prepare “from the point of view of an adversary.”</em></p>
  158. <p><em>Protesters on bicycles, skateboards, or even “on foot” are framed as potential “scouts” conducting reconnaissance or searching for “items to be used as weapons.” Livestreaming is listed alongside “doxxing” as a “tactic” for “threatening” police. Online posters are cast as ideological recruiters—or as participants in “surveillance sharing.”</em></p>
  159. </blockquote>
  160. <p>If the DHS actually believed these assertions, it could just be dismissed as paranoid ravings from an agency headed by someone who desires the same white-centric nation most of Trump&#8217;s administration does. And, of course, that will always be partly true as long as Kristi Noem heads the agency.</p>
  161. <p>But it&#8217;s far more likely the DHS doesn&#8217;t actually believe the bullshit it&#8217;s spouting, but recognizes the purpose it serves. And one of those purposes is premeditated justification of engaging in unprovoked violence against protesters. It also appeals directly to the &#8220;us vs. them&#8221; mentality so many law enforcement officers at every level possess. This bulletin tells them they&#8217;re right to direct violence at anyone using more than their feet to move around, as well as anyone seeking to document the violence cops are perpetrating against their fellow citizens. </p>
  162. <p>This is escalation masquerading as an intelligence briefing. Cops seldom need <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/11/lets-be-clear-the-rioting-in-la-is-by-the-cops-not-the-protestors/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/11/lets-be-clear-the-rioting-in-la-is-by-the-cops-not-the-protestors/">an excuse to start rioting</a>, but this bulletin &#8212; one that comes backed with the implied law enforcement expertise of the Department of Homeland Security &#8212; gives them plenty of excuses to start cracking heads and violating rights just in case they need something more than &#8220;just because&#8221; when protesters start inconveniencing <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/09/judge-to-ice-no-you-cant-actually-kidnap-students-for-writing-op-eds/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/09/judge-to-ice-no-you-cant-actually-kidnap-students-for-writing-op-eds/">ICE&#8217;s kidnapping squads</a>. </p>
  163. <p>And every situation needlessly escalated and every unnecessary confrontation provoked might result in a violent reaction, which will keep that snowball rolling until might is the only right <em>this</em> government is willing to recognize. </p>
  164. ]]></content:encoded>
  166. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-filming-cops-ice-officers-is-a-violent-tactic/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  167. <slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
  170. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">507358</post-id> </item>
  171. <item>
  172. <title>Appeals Court Judge Claims (Against All Historical Evidence) That The First Amendment Doesn’t Apply To Non-Citizens</title>
  173. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/appeals-court-judge-claims-against-all-historical-evidence-that-the-first-amendment-doesnt-apply-to-non-citizens/</link>
  174. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/appeals-court-judge-claims-against-all-historical-evidence-that-the-first-amendment-doesnt-apply-to-non-citizens/#comments</comments>
  176. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  177. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:53:50 +0000</pubDate>
  178. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  179. <category><![CDATA[1st amendment]]></category>
  180. <category><![CDATA[3rd circuit]]></category>
  181. <category><![CDATA[citizens]]></category>
  182. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  183. <category><![CDATA[free speech]]></category>
  184. <category><![CDATA[mohammad qatanani]]></category>
  185. <category><![CDATA[non-citizens]]></category>
  186. <category><![CDATA[paul matey]]></category>
  187. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=508046</guid>
  188.  
  189. <description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve written before about how attacks on free speech often start with unpopular speakers who lack political power. That&#8217;s why a new dissenting opinion from Trump-appointed Judge Paul Matey should set off alarm bells for anyone who cares about the First Amendment. In a case involving an imam&#8217;s immigration status, Judge Matey penned a remarkable [&#8230;]]]></description>
  190. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We&#8217;ve written before about how attacks on free speech <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/19/where-did-all-those-brave-free-speech-warriors-go/">often start with unpopular speakers</a> who lack political power. That&#8217;s why a <a href="https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/241849p.pdf">new dissenting opinion</a> from Trump-appointed Judge Paul Matey should set off alarm bells for anyone who cares about the First Amendment.</p>
  191. <p>In a case involving an imam&#8217;s immigration status, Judge Matey penned a remarkable 39-page dissent arguing that non-citizens have no First Amendment rights at all. Not limited rights. Not restricted rights. No rights whatsoever.</p>
  192. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  193. <p><em>Under the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” U.S. Const. amend. I.</em> <strong><em>This guarantee cannot be invoked by aliens</em></strong> <em>excluded from our borders because an alien “does not become one of the people to whom” the First Amendment applies “by an attempt to enter, forbidden by law.” U.S. ex rel. Turner v. Williams, 194 U.S. 279, 292 (1904). That is because “[t]o appeal to the Constitution is to concede that this is a land governed by that supreme law, and as under it the power to exclude has been determined to exist, those who are excluded cannot assert the rights in general obtaining in a land to which they do not belong as citizens or otherwise.” Id.</em> <strong><em>So there is no debate that excluded aliens cannot invoke the First Amendment.</em></strong></p>
  194. </blockquote>
  195. <p>This is a federal appeals court judge, appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, laying out a roadmap for gutting free speech protections for millions of people living legally in the United States, contrary to basically <em>any</em> prior reading of the First Amendment. And, even worse, claiming there is “no debate” on this point. There has been “no debate” on this topic because nearly every other court has disagreed with Judge Matey.</p>
  196. <p>The case, <em>Qatanani v. Attorney General</em>, involves Mohammad Qatanani, a Palestinian imam who has lived in New Jersey since 1996. After decades of proceedings, an immigration judge granted him permanent resident status. The Board of Immigration Appeals tried to reverse that decision eleven months later—well past the normal 30-day appeal window—and the majority correctly found they lacked authority to do so, given the delay.</p>
  197. <p>But Judge Matey&#8217;s dissent goes far beyond the procedural questions. He explicitly argues that &#8220;Qatanani is not part of &#8216;the people&#8217; the First Amendment protects&#8221; and that non-citizens cannot &#8220;claim its protection.&#8221;</p>
  198. <p>His reasoning? A convoluted “originalist” argument claiming that because the First Amendment refers to &#8220;the people,&#8221; it only applies to those who are &#8220;part of a national community&#8221; with sufficient &#8220;allegiance&#8221; to the sovereign. Non-citizens, he argues, owe only &#8220;temporary allegiance&#8221; and therefore get only &#8220;temporary protection&#8221;—protection that can be withdrawn whenever the government decides they&#8217;ve become &#8220;dangerous.&#8221;</p>
  199. <p>Judge Matey&#8217;s interpretation <a href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/aliens/">flies in the face</a> of a century of Supreme Court precedent.</p>
  200. <p>In <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/326/135/"><em>Bridges v. Wixon</em></a> (1945), the Supreme Court explicitly held that &#8220;<strong>freedom of speech and of the press is accorded aliens residing in this country.</strong>&#8221; The Court has consistently recognized that while the government has broader powers over immigration decisions, the First Amendment still constrains how it treats non-citizens who are physically present in the United States.</p>
  201. <p>Judge Matey tries to get around the clear statements in Bridges, claiming that it’s just dicta and limited in its scope to only “lawful resident aliens.”</p>
  202. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  203. <p><em>Wixon does not resolve whether the First Amendment applies to all resident aliens, much less unauthorized aliens. At most, its dicta suggests that lawful resident aliens, what we today could call LPRs, can potentially invoke the First Amendment in some criminal prosecutions.</em></p>
  204. </blockquote>
  205. <p>Note all the caveats: Matey suggests that <em>Bridges</em> &#8220;does not resolve&#8221; the question, that its holding &#8220;suggests&#8221; lawful resident aliens &#8220;can potentially&#8221; invoke First Amendment protections &#8220;in some criminal prosecutions.&#8221; This isn&#8217;t careful legal analysis—it&#8217;s systematic minimization of clear precedent with insinuation to get to a desired result.</p>
  206. <p>Even the more restrictive cases Matey cites don&#8217;t support his sweeping conclusion. <a href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/kleindienst-v-mandel/"><em>Kleindienst v. Mandel</em></a> involved excluding someone from entering the country—not stripping speech rights from someone already here. <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/342/580/"><em>Harisiades v. Shaughnessy</em></a><em>,</em> which was decided at the height of McCarthyite “Red Scare” nonsense, involved deportation proceedings, but still recognized that resident aliens have constitutional protections, even if those protections are weighed differently in immigration contexts. As for <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/194/279/">Turner v. Williams</a>, which Judge Matey relies on heavily, that ruling (part of an early 20th century panic about “anarchists”) makes clear that it is not “depreciating the vital importance of freedom of speech… or as suggesting limitations on the spirit of liberty” rather, it simply argues that Turner’s advocacy for anarchism was an attempt to overthrow the government, which leaves him open to deportation not because of his speech, but his incitement.</p>
  207. <p>In many ways, this is an extension of the kinds of <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2025/02/15/birthright-citizenship-a-response-to-barnett-and-wurman/">nonsense ahistorical</a> “originalist” arguments now being made against birthright citizenship, with hallucinated claims that birthright citizenship only applies to people who were born here “lawfully.”</p>
  208. <p>If Judge Matey&#8217;s view became law, the government could:</p>
  209. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  210. <li>Arrest non-citizens for political speech that would be fully protected if spoken by citizens</li>
  211. <li>Punish lawful permanent residents for attending protests or criticizing government policies</li>
  212. <li>Strip First Amendment protections from the millions of non-citizens who live, work, and contribute to American communities</li>
  213. </ul>
  214. <p>As <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/us-citizens-dont-have-first-amendment-rights-noncitizens-dont">the Cato Institute explains</a></p>
  215. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  216. <p><em>Every restriction on the free speech rights of noncitizens is also a restriction on the free speech rights of Americans. For one thing, free speech is</em> <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1975/74-895"><strong><em>a protection for listeners as much as it is for speakers</em></strong></a><em>, and in that way, it undermines everyone’s right to hear when the government shuts down anyone’s right to speak freely.</em></p>
  217. <p><em>The threat to US citizens becomes even more acute when they know a noncitizen. Should you bring a noncitizen family member or friend to a protest? Would you feel as confident protesting the abuses of the US government or an allied foreign government if you were married to a legal permanent resident? Should you share articles critical of the administration’s foreign policy with them? What happens if they reshare, comment on, or like your post?</em></p>
  218. <p><em>I know noncitizen researchers who study trade, immigration, national security, and other matters of intense public interest and debate. Should they and their employers be concerned about publishing research that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could deem “adverse to the foreign policy interest of the United States”? Unfortunately, the answer is yes.</em>&nbsp;</p>
  219. </blockquote>
  220. <p>The chilling effects of such a stance would be vast and would cover plenty of expression by citizens beyond just non-citizens.</p>
  221. <p>And, of course, Judge Matey&#8217;s dissent isn&#8217;t just theoretical musing. The Trump administration is already moving to <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/27/trumps-secret-police-are-now-disappearing-students-for-their-op-eds/">deport students and researchers</a> for their political speech.</p>
  222. <p>If courts adopt Judge Matey&#8217;s reasoning, these deportations could proceed without any First Amendment analysis <em>at all</em>. The government could simply argue that because these individuals aren&#8217;t citizens, their speech—no matter how peaceful or protected it would be if spoken by a citizen—is irrelevant to their immigration cases.</p>
  223. <p>Yes, of course, that’s what Matey and the Trump administration want, but it would be an attack on the free speech First Amendment principles this country was built on.</p>
  224. <p>Indeed, what makes Judge Matey&#8217;s dissent particularly alarming is how it reveals the broader strategy of the current administration&#8217;s approach to free speech. Rather than directly attacking the First Amendment rights of citizens (which would face immediate constitutional challenges), this approach systematically strips those rights from non-citizens first.</p>
  225. <p>This is the classic authoritarian playbook: start with the most vulnerable populations, normalize the restrictions, then expand them. Today it&#8217;s non-citizens who &#8220;don&#8217;t deserve&#8221; First Amendment protections. Tomorrow it could be naturalized citizens whose loyalty is questioned. Then citizens who associate with the &#8220;wrong&#8221; people or express the &#8220;wrong&#8221; views.</p>
  226. <p>This connects to an even more disturbing pattern: Donald Trump is already talking about <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/politics/rosie-odonnell-donald-trump">stripping citizenship</a> from Americans whose speech he dislikes. Matey&#8217;s reasoning provides the perfect complement to this threat. Strip someone of citizenship, and under Matey&#8217;s logic, they lose all First Amendment protections entirely. It&#8217;s a two-step process to eliminate constitutional rights for anyone: first denaturalize, then punish for their speech. The (desired) end result is tremendous chilling effects on speech.</p>
  227. <p>Fortunately, the majority in <em>Qatanani</em> rejected this approach entirely, focusing instead on the proper procedural limits on immigration agencies and ignoring the First Amendment issue altogether. But the fact that a federal judge felt comfortable writing such a sweeping attack on established First Amendment law should concern everyone.</p>
  228. <p>Judge Matey&#8217;s dissent represents exactly the kind of thinking that turns immigration enforcement into a tool for political persecution. When judges start arguing that the Constitution simply doesn&#8217;t apply to entire classes of people based on their citizenship status, we&#8217;re not talking about immigration law anymore.</p>
  229. <p>We&#8217;re talking about out-and-out authoritarianism and speech suppression.</p>
  230. <p>The First Amendment doesn&#8217;t protect Americans. It protects people in America. Judge Matey&#8217;s effort to rewrite that fundamental principle should be rejected as thoroughly as his colleagues rejected his broader legal reasoning.</p>
  231. <p>Because once we accept that some people don&#8217;t deserve constitutional protections, it becomes much easier to argue that others don&#8217;t deserve them either.</p>
  232. ]]></content:encoded>
  234. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/appeals-court-judge-claims-against-all-historical-evidence-that-the-first-amendment-doesnt-apply-to-non-citizens/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  235. <slash:comments>17</slash:comments>
  238. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">508046</post-id> </item>
  239. <item>
  240. <title>Daily Deal: The 2025 Embedded Systems Engineer Mastery Bundle</title>
  241. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/daily-deal-the-2025-embedded-systems-engineer-mastery-bundle-5/</link>
  242. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/daily-deal-the-2025-embedded-systems-engineer-mastery-bundle-5/#respond</comments>
  244. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Daily Deal]]></dc:creator>
  245. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:48:50 +0000</pubDate>
  246. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  247. <category><![CDATA[daily deal]]></category>
  248. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=508096&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=508096</guid>
  249.  
  250. <description><![CDATA[Embedded systems are at the heart of modern innovation, powering everything from smart devices to automotive technology. This Embedded Systems Engineer Mastery Bundle has 10 courses to help equip you with the skills to design, program, and implement microcontroller-based solutions. Gain hands-on experience with Arduino, PIC, and ESP32, master C programming for embedded applications, and [&#8230;]]]></description>
  251. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Embedded systems are at the heart of modern innovation, powering everything from smart devices to automotive technology. This <a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/the-2025-embedded-systems-engineer-mastery-bundle?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown">Embedded Systems Engineer Mastery Bundle</a> has 10 courses to help equip you with the skills to design, program, and implement microcontroller-based solutions. Gain hands-on experience with Arduino, PIC, and ESP32, master C programming for embedded applications, and explore circuit design, PCB fabrication, and IoT development. Whether you&#8217;re a beginner or an experienced developer, this bundle provides a practical, in-depth learning experience to help you excel in the fast-growing field of embedded systems. It&#8217;s on sale for $25.</p>
  252. <div class="wp-block-image">
  253. <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><a href="https://deals.techdirt.com/sales/the-2025-embedded-systems-engineer-mastery-bundle?utm_campaign=affiliaterundown"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/cdnp1.stackassets.com/9e69c279e87b2de1b718953ad298b4d2b9be9122/store/24c189aa7a5e079f41320c9e97ea339a4e6e37d038fcddfd4a8d3ebe8d8c/product_345649_product_shots1.jpg?ssl=1" alt=""/></a></figure>
  254. </div>
  255. <p><em>Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. The products featured do not reflect endorsements by our editorial team.</em></p>
  256. ]]></content:encoded>
  258. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/daily-deal-the-2025-embedded-systems-engineer-mastery-bundle-5/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  259. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  262. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">508096</post-id> </item>
  263. <item>
  264. <title>DHS, ICE To Expedite Ejecting Migrants Into Whatever Hellhole Will Have Them</title>
  265. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-ice-to-expedite-ejecting-migrants-into-whatever-hellhole-will-have-them/</link>
  266. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-ice-to-expedite-ejecting-migrants-into-whatever-hellhole-will-have-them/#comments</comments>
  268. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tim Cushing]]></dc:creator>
  269. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 16:24:50 +0000</pubDate>
  270. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  271. <category><![CDATA[cruelty]]></category>
  272. <category><![CDATA[dhs]]></category>
  273. <category><![CDATA[due process]]></category>
  274. <category><![CDATA[ice]]></category>
  275. <category><![CDATA[immigration]]></category>
  276. <category><![CDATA[kristi noem]]></category>
  277. <category><![CDATA[mass deportation]]></category>
  278. <category><![CDATA[todd lyons]]></category>
  279. <category><![CDATA[trump administration]]></category>
  280. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=507244&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=507244</guid>
  281.  
  282. <description><![CDATA[The Trump administration&#8217;s maximum cruelty version of immigration enforcement has sent swarms of masked officers to anywhere someone looking kind of foreign might be found. Due process has been eliminated, with the administration relying on its invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to do its dirty, unconstitutional work for it. To make things even worse, [&#8230;]]]></description>
  283. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Trump administration&#8217;s maximum cruelty version of immigration enforcement has sent swarms of masked officers to anywhere someone looking kind of foreign might be found. Due process has been eliminated, with the administration relying on its invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to do its dirty, unconstitutional work for it. </p>
  284. <p>To make things even worse, undocumented migrants aren&#8217;t even being sent back to the countries they came from. Instead, planes full of deportees are being sent to places like war-torn South Sudan or, more often, a maximum security concentration camp run by the El Salvadoran government. </p>
  285. <p>Those being deported have reason to fear for their safety when the only options are some of the worst places on earth. Normally, that would allow them to petition courts for removal to their home country or, at least, somewhere less hideous than a country currently hosting a war or a maximum security prison run by a sadistic government. </p>
  286. <p>Even if the Trump administration was willing to entertain these petitions (and it definitely <em>isn&#8217;t</em>), it no longer has to concern itself with the well-being of the people it deports. The Supreme Court decided late last month that there&#8217;s nothing wrong &#8212; constitutionally or otherwise &#8212; with <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/24/supreme-court-blesses-human-trafficking-with-no-explanation-in-stunning-abandonment-of-rule-of-law/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/24/supreme-court-blesses-human-trafficking-with-no-explanation-in-stunning-abandonment-of-rule-of-law/">engaging in human trafficking</a> of deportees&#8230; at least not not that it&#8217;s the Trump administration doing it.</p>
  287. <p>The government has always had the power to send deportees to countries they&#8217;re not actually from. But the government is supposed to &#8212; right up until SCOTUS said otherwise &#8212; allow deportees to assess their survival chances in yet another foreign country and give them an opportunity to be deported somewhere less dangerous or, preferably, to the country they came from.</p>
  288. <p>Acting ICE director Todd Lyons &#8212; with the backing of the DHS &#8212; says any form of due process <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/12/immigrants-deportations-trump-ice-memo/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/12/immigrants-deportations-trump-ice-memo/">will be extremely limited, if not ignored completely</a>. </p>
  289. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  290. <p><em>Todd M. Lyons, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in a memo to the ICE workforce Wednesday that a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/23/supreme-court-trump-deportations-third-country-south-sudan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Supreme Court ruling</a>&nbsp;last month had cleared the way for officers to “immediately” start sending immigrants to “alternative” countries.</em></p>
  291. <p><em>People being sent to countries where officials have not provided any “diplomatic assurances” that immigrants will be safe will be informed 24 hours in advance — and in “exigent” circumstances, just six. Those being flown to places that have offered those assurances could be deported with no advance notice.</em></p>
  292. </blockquote>
  293. <p>Why is this expedited removal process so extremely necessary migrants will only have less than a day to assess their survival chances in whatever country the US chooses to dump them in? Well, if you believe DHS head Kristi Noem (and you definitely shouldn&#8217;t), it&#8217;s the only way to keep this country safe. </p>
  294. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  295. <p><em>Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, whose agency oversees ICE, confirmed on “Fox News Sunday” that the agency had the policy in place. The memo is “incredibly important to make sure we get these worst of the worst out of our country,” she said.</em></p>
  296. </blockquote>
  297. <p>But that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening. It wasn&#8217;t even happening nearly a decade ago, when Trump took his <em>first</em> run at eliminating non-white people from the United States. Back in 2017, ICE couldn&#8217;t find enough dangerous criminals to deport, so it basically <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2017/10/12/emails-show-ice-couldnt-find-enough-dangerous-immigrants-to-fulfill-adminstrations-fantasies/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2017/10/12/emails-show-ice-couldnt-find-enough-dangerous-immigrants-to-fulfill-adminstrations-fantasies/">began falsifying arrest numbers</a> to keep the administration&#8217;s top bigots satiated.</p>
  298. <p>This time around, there&#8217;s been a whole lot more deportation. And with White House advisor Stephen Miller expecting ICE to perform 3,000 arrests a <em>day</em> (the closest it&#8217;s come to this point is <a href="http://theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/05/trump-ice-arrests-immigration" data-type="link" data-id="http://theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/05/trump-ice-arrests-immigration">still several hundred arrests</a> short of that mark), moving a few numbers around isn&#8217;t going to work. To accomplish this, ICE has to basically expel <em>every</em> migrant officers come across, which is why nearly two-thirds of people arrested by ICE have no criminal record <em>at all</em>, and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/26/more-than-90-percent-of-ice-detainees-have-never-been-convicted-of-violent-crimes/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/26/more-than-90-percent-of-ice-detainees-have-never-been-convicted-of-violent-crimes/">nearly every person arrested (93%) by ICE</a> has never been convicted of <em>any</em> violent offenses.</p>
  299. <p>This isn&#8217;t the &#8220;worst of the worst&#8221; being given what they supposedly deserve. This is thousands of people who work hard, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/26/another-anti-immigrant-lie-exposed-irs-records-will-be-used-to-track-down-undocumented-immigrants/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/26/another-anti-immigrant-lie-exposed-irs-records-will-be-used-to-track-down-undocumented-immigrants/">pay taxes</a>, and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/07/yet-again-the-data-shows-migrants-are-more-law-abiding-than-us-citizens/" data-type="link" data-id="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/07/yet-again-the-data-shows-migrants-are-more-law-abiding-than-us-citizens/">commit fewer crimes</a> than the white people who seem believe they&#8217;re operating at a higher human level than people whose skin is darker than theirs. </p>
  300. ]]></content:encoded>
  302. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dhs-ice-to-expedite-ejecting-migrants-into-whatever-hellhole-will-have-them/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  303. <slash:comments>21</slash:comments>
  306. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">507244</post-id> </item>
  307. <item>
  308. <title>Dem Senators Use Epstein Scandal To &#8216;Pressure&#8217; Trump FCC To Drop Bogus Inquiry Into CBS</title>
  309. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dem-senators-use-epstein-scandal-to-pressure-trump-fcc-to-drop-bogus-inquiry-into-cbs/</link>
  310. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dem-senators-use-epstein-scandal-to-pressure-trump-fcc-to-drop-bogus-inquiry-into-cbs/#comments</comments>
  312. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Karl Bode]]></dc:creator>
  313. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 12:27:50 +0000</pubDate>
  314. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  315. <category><![CDATA[cbs]]></category>
  316. <category><![CDATA[fox corporation]]></category>
  317. <category><![CDATA[paramount]]></category>
  318. <category><![CDATA[skydance]]></category>
  319. <category><![CDATA[bari weiss]]></category>
  320. <category><![CDATA[brendan carr]]></category>
  321. <category><![CDATA[chuck schumer]]></category>
  322. <category><![CDATA[consolidation]]></category>
  323. <category><![CDATA[disinformation]]></category>
  324. <category><![CDATA[donald trump]]></category>
  325. <category><![CDATA[ed markey]]></category>
  326. <category><![CDATA[fcc]]></category>
  327. <category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
  328. <category><![CDATA[larry ellison]]></category>
  329. <category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
  330. <category><![CDATA[propaganda]]></category>
  331. <category><![CDATA[sham]]></category>
  332. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=507980&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=507980</guid>
  333.  
  334. <description><![CDATA[When last we checked with CBS/Paramount, company executives had just paid Trump $16 million in bribe money to settle a completely baseless lawsuit, effectively purchasing regulatory approval of their $8 billion merger with Skydance. It was arguably one of the biggest acts of corporate cowardice in recent memory, resulting in many CBS journalists and executives [&#8230;]]]></description>
  335. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When last we checked with CBS/Paramount, <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/03/institutional-failure-cbs-wimps-out-pays-trump-16-million-bribe-to-settle-baseless-lawsuit/">company executives had just paid Trump $16 million in bribe money</a> to settle <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/30/cbs-folds-like-a-moist-flushable-towelette-in-response-to-baseless-trump-threats/">a completely baseless lawsuit</a>, effectively purchasing regulatory approval of their $8 billion merger with Skydance. It was arguably one of the biggest acts of corporate cowardice in recent memory, resulting in many CBS journalists and executives fleeing for the exits. </p>
  336. <p><strong>So we&#8217;re clear what happened here:</strong> Larry Ellison, a billionaire Trump ally, <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/larry-ellison-invests-6-billion-235416135.html">used his own money to buy CBS and install his son as the boss</a>. There are hints <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/11/media/skydance-reportedly-in-early-talks-to-buy-bari-weiss-the-free-press/">they&#8217;re then going to merge what&#8217;s left of CBS with Bari Weiss&#8217; Free Press</a>, which will effectively turn CBS into another right wing, Trump-friendly propaganda mill much like Fox News. Trump gets $16 million in bribe money simply for being king. </p>
  337. <p>The only question now is whether anybody involved in this bribery scheme faces any accountability for it. California lawmakers have made some noise <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/06/24/cbs-execs-have-second-thoughts-about-paying-trump-bribe-money-after-california-threatens-bribery-inquiry/">about investigating the settlement for possibly violating state bribery laws</a>, but I&#8217;ve not seen any meaningful traction on that. </p>
  338. <p>Elsewhere, Dem Senators Chuck Schumer and Ed Markey are trying to leverage the Epstein scandal to &#8220;pressure&#8221; Trump&#8217;s FCC into <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-leader-schumer-call-on-fcc-to-stop-partisan-games-drop-frivolous-cbs-investigation-in-light-of-fox-news-misleading-editing-of-trumps-epstein-comments">dropping its &#8220;investigation&#8221; into CBS</a>.</p>
  339. <p><em>Quick refresher</em>: Trump had FCC boss Brendan Carr open an &#8220;<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/05/01/brendan-carrs-fcc-abuses-run-face-first-into-trump-court-efforts-to-destroy-regulatory-power/">investigation</a>&#8221; into CBS that (falsely) claimed that mundane <em>60 Minutes</em> edits of an election season Kamala Harris interview violated the FCC&#8217;s “<a href="https://www.fcc.gov/broadcast-news-distortion">Broadcast News Distortion</a>” policy. That policy, rarely enforced anymore, says violations must involve clear distortion of “a significant event and not merely a minor or incidental aspect of the news report.”</p>
  340. <p>Now that Trumps and Ellisons got what they wanted, this fake FCC investigation would have been closed before long anyway. Its only function appears to be to try and create additional pressure on CBS to sell the company to his billionaire friends, extort some additional cash for the king, and create a false narrative in the media that existing CBS journalism was being unfair to Republicans (to set the stage for what comes next: turning the channel into yet another right wing propaganda network). </p>
  341. <p>Schumer and Markey <a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senator-markey-leader-schumer-call-on-fcc-to-stop-partisan-games-drop-frivolous-cbs-investigation-in-light-of-fox-news-misleading-editing-of-trumps-epstein-comments">in their statement</a> zeroed in on the fact that Fox News routinely does actually misleading edits to make the president look good &#8212; including past comments he&#8217;s made about Jeffrey Epstein. They join a long list of bipartisan folks (including <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/02/a-bipartisan-roster-of-former-fcc-officials-say-trump-fcc-boss-brendan-carr-is-taking-a-giant-dump-on-the-first-amendment/">Republican former FCC Commissioners</a>) who have been urging Carr to stop being a weird, First Amendment trampling zealot:</p>
  342. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  343. <p><em>&#8220;The FCC should stop its partisan investigations into the news media and cease interfering with independent journalism altogether. To be clear, the FCC should not investigate or pressure either CBS or Fox. Editorial discretion lies at the heart of press freedom and should not be subject to government interference..&#8221;</em></p>
  344. </blockquote>
  345. <p>So they&#8217;re right here, of course. The CBS edits really were minor. Fox News routinely engages in edits to mislead its audience on a daily basis (because it&#8217;s a propaganda outlet, not a news channel). The FCC investigation of CBS was a sham, and Trump Republicans are hypocrites who are leveraging government to attack journalism and the First Amendment. That&#8217;s all true. </p>
  346. <p>That said, Schumer and Markey certainly know the FCC investigation was already likely to end regardless. They don&#8217;t <strong>really</strong> think Brendan Carr cares what they think, or is worried about real congressional backlash. They just wanted to find another public avenue to leverage the Epstein scandal to erode public Trump support. Which again, is fine; it&#8217;s a Trump weak spot right now Dem messaging should exploit. </p>
  347. <p>The problem is that <em>they didn&#8217;t use the opportunity to meaningfully highlight what the broader goal of Republicans was here</em>: which is to genuinely destroy what&#8217;s left of shaky U.S. corporate journalism (and informed consensus) and replace it with <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/01/02/americas-right-wing-propaganda-problem-might-be-terminal/">wall to wall right wing-friendly infotainment and propaganda</a>.</p>
  348. <p>Yes, they&#8217;re extorting private companies and weaponizing government, but <em>why do you think that is</em>? If you&#8217;re a powerful Dem Senator, <em>shouldn&#8217;t you maybe mention this</em>?</p>
  349. <p>I don&#8217;t really think most older Dems really understand the modern media and information environment they operate in. I&#8217;ve yet to see any Democrats capable of messaging on media policy. There&#8217;s a lot of empty Dem lip service given to journalism and the First Amendment, but the party has no coherent media reform proposals, outside of rubber stamping mergers and dreaming of a &#8220;<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/dems-quest-liberal-joe-rogan-money.html">Joe Rogan for the left</a>.&#8221; </p>
  350. <p>There&#8217;s a lot the Dem leadership could do, including relentlessly supporting public media (which <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/17/us/politics/senate-vote-trump-bill-pbs-npr-foreign-aid.html">again this week took another devastating blow from Republican policy</a>), finding creative new ways to help fund <strong>real independent journalism</strong>, relentlessly advocating for greater media literacy in education standards to combat propaganda (see: <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/europe/finland-fake-news-intl/">Finland</a>), and <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/10/trump-fcc-prepares-to-destroy-whatevers-left-of-media-consolidation-limits/">fighting to reforge media consolidation limits</a>.</p>
  351. <p>But rich Americans of every partisan ideology <em>don&#8217;t really want a press that routinely critiques wealth and power</em>; it&#8217;s the burr at the heart of geriatric Dem dysfunction and inaction on media reform. </p>
  352. <p>Republicans meanwhile are busy buying up companies and converting them into giant bullhorns for right wing ideology. All the money in media right now involves telling young, angry right wing white men what they want to hear (just ask Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss). From AM radio to broadcast TV (Sinclair) to cable news (Fox) to the internet, <a href="https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/01/02/americas-right-wing-propaganda-problem-might-be-terminal/">Republicans have effectively won the modern information war</a>. </p>
  353. <p>It&#8217;s an effort built on the back of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzMDEEQCYcE&amp;ab_channel=NewsActive3">a generation of false claims of U.S. media &#8220;liberal bias,&#8221;</a> (and more recently &#8220;<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2019/08/02/enough-with-myth-that-big-tech-is-censoring-conservatives-that-law-requires-them-to-be-neutral/">censorship of Conservatives</a>&#8220;). It&#8217;s the ultimate culmination in the right wing&#8217;s war on reality-based informed consensus. It&#8217;s <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/15/ignorant-and-paranoid-maga-politics-kept-texas-republicans-from-spending-arpa-money-on-weather-warning-systems/">deadly</a>. It&#8217;s been incredibly effective. And Dems that value a functioning republic, hopeful for a path out of authoritarianism, need to get their heads out of their collective ass.</p>
  354. ]]></content:encoded>
  356. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/18/dem-senators-use-epstein-scandal-to-pressure-trump-fcc-to-drop-bogus-inquiry-into-cbs/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  357. <slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
  360. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">507980</post-id> </item>
  361. <item>
  362. <title>RFK Jr. Promotes Meal Delivery Company That Serves Ultra-Processed Food</title>
  363. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/rfk-jr-promotes-meal-delivery-company-that-serves-ultra-processed-food/</link>
  364. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/rfk-jr-promotes-meal-delivery-company-that-serves-ultra-processed-food/#comments</comments>
  366. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Dark Helmet]]></dc:creator>
  367. <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2025 02:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
  368. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  369. <category><![CDATA[mom's meals]]></category>
  370. <category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
  371. <category><![CDATA[health and human services]]></category>
  372. <category><![CDATA[maha]]></category>
  373. <category><![CDATA[medicaid]]></category>
  374. <category><![CDATA[medicare]]></category>
  375. <category><![CDATA[rfk jr.]]></category>
  376. <category><![CDATA[ultra processed foods]]></category>
  377. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=506841&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=506841</guid>
  378.  
  379. <description><![CDATA[Nobody who has read any of my posts about RFK Jr., particularly since his vulgar appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be under any misunderstandings about my opinion of the man. I have made it clear that I believe he is a health crackpot, dealing in wildly dangerous conspiratorial theories, the adoption [&#8230;]]]></description>
  380. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Nobody who has read any of my posts about RFK Jr., particularly since his vulgar appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be under any misunderstandings about <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/tag/rfk-jr/">my opinion</a> of the man. I have made it clear that I believe he is a health crackpot, dealing in wildly dangerous conspiratorial theories, the adoption of which will lead to sickness, misery, and death. I&#8217;ve called him plainly incompetent, ignorant of how science works, and incapable of leading the agency in which he&#8217;s been put in charge.</p>
  381. <p>But what if all of that is wrong and he&#8217;s just a grifting charlatan? I have to wonder if that is the case, reading about his <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/rfk-jr-promoted-food-company-203923787.html?guccounter=1">public admiration for Mom&#8217;s Meals</a>, a company that delivers cheap, ready-made meals for people on Medicaid and Medicare.</p>
  382. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  383. <p><em>&nbsp;Health secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/robert-f-kennedy-jr" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert F. Kennedy Jr</a>. on Monday praised a company that makes $7-a-pop meals that are delivered directly to the homes of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees.</em></p>
  384. <p><em>He even thanked Mom&#8217;s Meals for sending taxpayer-funded meals “without additives&#8221; to the homes of sick or elderly Americans. The spreads include chicken bacon ranch pasta for dinner and French toast sticks with fruit or ham patties.</em></p>
  385. <p><em>“This is really one of the solutions for making our country healthy again,” Kennedy&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/SecKennedy/status/1942258165946654894" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;in the video, posted to his official health secretary account, after he toured the company&#8217;s Oklahoma facility last week.</em></p>
  386. </blockquote>
  387. <p>That whole &#8220;without additives&#8221; is doing a great deal of vague work for Kennedy. Look, as the saying goes, even a broken Kennedy is right twice a day, and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ultraprocessed-foods-kennedy-f6a2607b14c4a2787c68801a8e0646bc">his public and vocal crusade</a> against ultra-processed foods is not without merit. He&#8217;s called such food &#8220;poison&#8221; in past weeks and, while he&#8217;s being a bit dramatic in saying so, he&#8217;s not wrong that American diets are generally trash and contribute to a bunch of health concerns. And, to the point, ultra-processed foods are a big part of the problem.</p>
  388. <p>Which makes it more than a bit jarring to see him pimp this company that makes food which is, you guessed it, ultra-processed.</p>
  389. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  390. <p><em>The meals contain chemical additives that would render them impossible to recreate at home in your kitchen, said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and food policy expert, who reviewed the menu for The AP. Many menu items are high in sodium, and some are high in sugar or saturated fats, she said.</em></p>
  391. <p><em>“It is perfectly possible to make meals like this with real foods and no ultra-processing additives but every one of the meals I looked at is loaded with such additives,” Nestle said. “What’s so sad is that they don’t have to be this way. Other companies are able to produce much better products, but of course they cost more.”</em></p>
  392. </blockquote>
  393. <p>Now, to be clear, Mom&#8217;s Meals&#8217; food products do not contain the artificial food coloring that Kennedy has also railed against. But that is a far cry from claiming that these meals don&#8217;t have any additives and aren&#8217;t processed foods. They absolutely are, though I expect Kennedy to play word games as to what &#8220;ultra-processed&#8221; means. It&#8217;s his way. </p>
  394. <p>But the end result of all of this is we can believe one of two realities. Either Kennedy is a combination of so poor a communicator and so incompetent on matters of health to make all of this yet another blunder in his role at HHS&#8230;or he&#8217;s just completely full of shit and doesn&#8217;t actually care about any of this further than what it does for his own grasp on power and/or money.</p>
  395. <p>Either way, well, it&#8217;s pretty freaking terrible and a flat-out lie to say this company makes the kind of food Kennedy himself has advocated for all these years.</p>
  396. ]]></content:encoded>
  398. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/rfk-jr-promotes-meal-delivery-company-that-serves-ultra-processed-food/comments/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  399. <slash:comments>22</slash:comments>
  402. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">506841</post-id> </item>
  403. <item>
  404. <title>Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The UK Wants Us To Ask Your Age Before You Listen</title>
  405. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/ctrl-alt-speech-the-uk-wants-us-to-ask-your-age-before-you-listen/</link>
  406. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/ctrl-alt-speech-the-uk-wants-us-to-ask-your-age-before-you-listen/#comments</comments>
  408. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  409. <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 23:04:38 +0000</pubDate>
  410. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  411. <category><![CDATA[civitai]]></category>
  412. <category><![CDATA[hugging face]]></category>
  413. <category><![CDATA[age verification]]></category>
  414. <category><![CDATA[child safety]]></category>
  415. <category><![CDATA[content moderation]]></category>
  416. <category><![CDATA[ncii]]></category>
  417. <category><![CDATA[ofcom]]></category>
  418. <category><![CDATA[scams]]></category>
  419. <category><![CDATA[sextortion]]></category>
  420. <category><![CDATA[uk]]></category>
  421. <category><![CDATA[wikipedia]]></category>
  422. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=508035&#038;preview=true&#038;preview_id=508035</guid>
  423.  
  424. <description><![CDATA[Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation&#8216;s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week&#8217;s round-up of the latest news in online [&#8230;]]]></description>
  425. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><a href="https://ctrlaltspeech.com/">Ctrl-Alt-Speech</a> is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and <a href="https://www.everythinginmoderation.co/">Everything in Moderation</a>&#8216;s Ben Whitelaw. </strong></p>
  426. <p><strong>Subscribe now on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193">Overcast</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://pca.st/zulnarbw">Pocket Casts</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z">YouTube</a>, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to <a href="https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2315966.rss">the RSS feed</a>.</strong></p>
  427. <p><iframe src="https://www.buzzsprout.com/2315966/episodes/17523607-the-uk-wants-us-to-ask-your-age-before-you-listen?client_source=small_player&#038;iframe=true" loading="lazy" width="100%" height="200" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title='Ctrl-Alt-Speech, The UK Wants Us To Ask Your Age Before You Listen'></iframe></p>
  428. <p>In this week&#8217;s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:</p>
  429. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  430. <li><a href="https://www.404media.co/a16z-backed-ai-site-civitai-is-mostly-porn-despite-claiming-otherwise/">a16z-Backed AI Site Civitai Is Mostly Porn, Despite Claiming Otherwise</a> (404 Media)</li>
  431. <li><a href="https://www.404media.co/hugging-face-is-hosting-5-000-nonconsensual-ai-models-of-real-people/">Hugging Face Is Hosting 5,000 Nonconsensual AI Models of Real People</a> (404 Media)</li>
  432. <li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/13/ofcom-age-checks-child-online-safety-melanie-dawes">Ofcom head says age checks are ‘really big moment’ for children’s online safety</a> (The Guardian)</li>
  433. <li><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cy4nwqkj7jxt">New online safety rules not &#8216;the end of the conversation&#8217;, says minister</a> (BBC)</li>
  434. <li><a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/tech/news/commissions-guidelines-for-online-child-safety-target-platforms-of-all-sizes/">Commission’s guidelines for online child safety target platforms of all sizes</a> (Euractiv)</li>
  435. <li><a href="https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/jordan-stephens-sextortion-scammers-nigeria-7x0j0qfgj">I met the sextortion scammers destroying young lives for £1 a day</a> (The Times)</li>
  436. <li><a href="https://www.blockpartyapp.com/blog/why-me-on-shame-self-blame-and-feeling-so-damn-stupid">“Why me?” On shame, self-blame, and feeling so. damn. Stupid.</a> (Blockparty)</li>
  437. <li><a href="https://internet.exchangepoint.tech/if-it-breaks-wikipedia-its-probably-bad-policy/">If It Breaks Wikipedia, It’s Probably Bad Policy</a> (InternetExchange)</li>
  438. </ul>
  439. <p>This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust &amp; Safety Fund and by our sponsor, the Digital Trust &amp; Safety Partnership. In our bonus chat Mike talks with DTSP Executive Director David Sullivan to talk about their new <a href="https://dtspartnership.org/the-safe-framework-specification/">Safe Framework Specification</a>, which is an official ISO standard (available for free download) which will help everyone better understand best practices and concepts around online trust &amp; safety work.</p>
  440. ]]></content:encoded>
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  443. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
  446. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">508035</post-id> </item>
  447. <item>
  448. <title>The IRS Is Building A Vast System To Share Millions Of Taxpayers’ Data With ICE</title>
  449. <link>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/the-irs-is-building-a-vast-system-to-share-millions-of-taxpayers-data-with-ice/</link>
  450. <comments>https://www.techdirt.com/2025/07/17/the-irs-is-building-a-vast-system-to-share-millions-of-taxpayers-data-with-ice/#comments</comments>
  452. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mike Masnick]]></dc:creator>
  453. <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:51:46 +0000</pubDate>
  454. <category><![CDATA[1]]></category>
  455. <category><![CDATA[data]]></category>
  456. <category><![CDATA[dhs]]></category>
  457. <category><![CDATA[doge]]></category>
  458. <category><![CDATA[ice]]></category>
  459. <category><![CDATA[irs]]></category>
  460. <category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>
  461. <category><![CDATA[tax records]]></category>
  462. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.techdirt.com/?p=507760</guid>
  463.  
  464. <description><![CDATA[This story was originally published by ProPublica. Republished under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data. ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of [&#8230;]]]></description>
  465. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This story was <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">originally published</a> by ProPublica.</em> <em>Republished under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">CC BY-NC-ND 3.0</a></em> <em>license.</em></p>
  466. <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations"><meta name="syndication-source" content="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-share-tax-records-ice-dhs-deportations"><script type="text/javascript" src="https://pixel.propublica.org/pixel.js" async></script>
  467. <p>The Internal Revenue Service is building a computer program that would give deportation officers unprecedented access to confidential tax data.</p>
  468. <p>ProPublica has obtained a blueprint of the system, which would create an “on demand” process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of people it’s seeking to deport.</p>
  469. <p>Last month, in a previously undisclosed dispute, the acting general counsel at the IRS, Andrew De Mello, refused to turn over the addresses of 7.3 million taxpayers sought by ICE. In an email obtained by ProPublica, De Mello said he had identified multiple legal “deficiencies” in the agency’s request.</p>
  470. <p>Two days later, on June 27, De Mello was forced out of his job, people familiar with the dispute said. The addresses have not yet been released to ICE. De Mello did not respond to requests for comment, and the administration did not address questions sent by ProPublica about his departure.</p>
  471. <p>The Department of Government Efficiency began pushing the IRS to provide taxpayer data to immigration agents soon after President Donald Trump took office. The tax agency’s acting general counsel refused and was replaced by De Mello, who Trump administration officials viewed as more willing to carry out the president’s agenda. Soon after, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, and the IRS negotiated a “memorandum of understanding” that included specific legal guardrails to safeguard taxpayers’ private information.</p>
  472. <p>In his email, De Mello said ICE’s request for millions of records did not meet those requirements, which include having a written assurance that each taxpayer whose address is being sought was under active criminal investigation.</p>
  473. <p>“There’s just no way ICE has 7 million real criminal investigations, that’s a fantasy,” said a former senior IRS official who had been advising the agency on this issue. The demands from the DHS were “unprecedented,” the official added, saying the agency was pressing the IRS to do what amounted to “a big data dump.”</p>
  474. <p>In the past, when law enforcement sought IRS data to support its investigations, agencies would give the IRS the full legal name of the target, an address on file and an explanation of why the information was relevant to a criminal inquiry. Such requests rarely involved more than a dozen people at a time, former IRS officials said.</p>
  475. <p>Danny Werfel, IRS commissioner during the Biden administration, said the privacy laws allowing federal investigators to obtain taxpayer data have never “been read to open the door to the sharing of thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of tax records for a broad-based enforcement initiative.”</p>
  476. <p>A spokesperson for the White House said the planned use of IRS data was legal and a means of fulfilling Trump’s campaign pledge to carry out mass deportations of “illegal criminal aliens.”</p>
  477. <p>Taxpayer data is among the most confidential in the federal government and is protected by strict privacy laws, which have historically limited its transfer to law enforcement and other government agencies. Unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer return information is a felony that can carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.</p>
  478. <p>The system that the IRS is now creating would give ICE automated access to home addresses en masse, limiting the ability of IRS officials to consider the legality of transfers. IRS insiders who reviewed a copy of the blueprint said it could result in immigration agents raiding wrong or outdated addresses.</p>
  479. <p>“If this program is implemented in its current form, it’s extremely likely that incorrect addresses will be given to DHS and individuals will be wrongly targeted,” said an IRS engineer who examined the blueprints and who, like other officials, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.</p>
  480. <p>The dispute that ended in De Mello’s ouster was the culmination of months of pressure on the IRS to turn over massive amounts of data in ways that would redefine the relationship between the agency and law enforcement and reduce taxpayers’ privacy, records and interviews show.</p>
  481. <p>In one meeting in late March between senior IRS and DHS officials, a top ICE official made a suggestion: Why doesn’t Homeland Security simply provide the name and state of its targets and have the IRS return the addresses of everyone who matches that criteria?</p>
  482. <p>The IRS lawyers were stunned. They feared they could face criminal liability if they handed over the addresses of individuals who were not under a criminal investigation. The conversation and news of deeper collaboration with ICE so disturbed career staff that it led to a series of departures in late March and early April across the IRS’ legal, IT and privacy offices.</p>
  483. <p>They were “pushing the boundaries of the law,” one official said. “Everyone at IRS felt the same way.”</p>
  484. <h3 class="wp-block-heading">The Blueprint</h3>
  485. <p>The technical blueprint obtained by ProPublica shows that engineers at the agency are preparing to give DHS what it wants: a system that enables massive automated data sharing. The goal is to launch the new system before the end of July, two people familiar with the matter said.</p>
  486. <p>The DHS effort to obtain IRS data comes as top immigration enforcement leaders face escalating White House pressure to deport some 3,000 people per day,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ices-tactics-draw-criticism-it-triples-daily-arrest-targets-2025-06-10/">according to reports</a>.</p>
  487. <p>One federal agent tasked with assisting ICE on deportations said recent operations have been hamstrung by outdated addresses. Better information could dramatically speed up arrests. “Some of the leads that they were giving us were old,” said the agent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. “They’re like from two administrations ago.”</p>
  488. <p>In early March, immigrants rights groups&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278147/gov.uscourts.dcd.278147.1.0.pdf">sued the IRS</a>&nbsp;hoping to block the plan, arguing that the memorandum of understanding between DHS and the IRS is illegal. But a judge in early May&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278147/gov.uscourts.dcd.278147.67.0.pdf">ruled against them</a>, saying the broader agreement complied with Section 6103, the existing law regulating IRS data sharing. That opened the door for engineers to begin building the system.</p>
  489. <p>The judge did not address the technical blueprint, which didn’t exist at the time of the ruling. But the case is pending, which means the new system could still come under legal review.</p>
  490. <p>Until now, little was known about the push and pull between the two agencies or the exact technical mechanics behind the arrangement.</p>
  491. <p>The plan has been shrouded in secrecy even within the IRS, with details of its development withheld from regular communications. Several IRS engineers and lawyers have avoided working on the project out of concerns about personal legal risk.</p>
  492. <p>Asked about the new system, a spokesperson for IRS parent agency the Treasury Department said the memorandum of understanding, often called an MOU, “has been litigated and determined to be a lawful application of Section 6103, which provides for information sharing by the IRS in precise circumstances associated with law enforcement requests.”</p>
  493. <p>At a time when Trump is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/16/nx-s1-5366178/trump-deport-jail-u-s-citizens-homegrowns-el-salvador">making threats</a>&nbsp;to deport not only undocumented immigrants but also U.S. citizens, the scope of information-sharing with the IRS could continue to grow, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica and sources familiar with the matter: DHS has been looking for ways to expand the agreement that could allow Homeland Security officials to seek IRS data on Americans being investigated for various crimes.</p>
  494. <p>Last month, an ICE attorney proposed updating the MOU to authorize new data requests on people “associated with criminal activities which may include United States citizens or lawful permanent residents,” according to a document seen by ProPublica. The status of this proposal is unclear. De Mello, at the time, rejected it and called for senior Treasury Department leadership to personally sign off on such a significant change.</p>
  495. <p>The White House described DHS’ work with the IRS as a good-faith effort to identify and deport those who are living in the country illegally.</p>
  496. <p>“ProPublica continues to degrade their already terrible reputation by suggesting we should turn a blind eye to criminal illegal aliens present in the United States for the sake of trying to collect tax payments from them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement after receiving questions about the blueprint from ProPublica.</p>
  497. <p>She pointed to the April MOU as giving the government the authority to create the new system and added, “This isn’t a surveillance system. … It’s part of President Trump’s promise to carry out the mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens — the promise that the American people elected him on and he is committed to fulfilling.”</p>
  498. <p>In a separate statement, a senior DHS official also cited the court’s approval of the MOU, saying that it “outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations.”</p>
  499. <h3 class="wp-block-heading">How the System Works</h3>
  500. <p>The new system would represent a sea change, allowing law enforcement to request enormous swaths of confidential data in bulk through an automated, computerized process.</p>
  501. <p>The system, according to the blueprint and interviews with IRS engineers, would work like this:</p>
  502. <p>First, DHS would send the IRS a spreadsheet containing the names and previous addresses of the people it’s targeting. The request would include the date of a final removal order, a relevant criminal statute ICE is using to investigate the individual, and the tax period for which information is sought. If DHS fails to include any of this information, the system would reject the request.</p>
  503. <p>The system then attempts to match the information provided by the DHS to a specific taxpayer identification number, which is the primary method by which the IRS identifies an individual in its databases.</p>
  504. <p>If the system makes a match, it accesses the individual’s associated tax file and pulls the address listed during the most recent tax period. Then the system would produce a new spreadsheet enriched with taxpayer data that contains DHS’ targets’ last known addresses. The spreadsheet would include a record of names rejected for lack of required information and names for which it could not make a match.</p>
  505. <p>Tax and privacy experts say they worry about how such a powerful yet crude platform could make dangerous mistakes. Because the search starts with a name instead of a taxpayer identification number, it risks returning the address of an innocent person with the same name as or a similar address to that of one of ICE’s targets. The proposed system assumes the data provided by DHS is accurate and that each targeted individual is the subject of a valid criminal investigation. In effect, the IRS has no way to independently check the bases of these requests, experts told ProPublica.</p>
  506. <p>In addition, the blueprint does not limit the amount of data that can be transferred or how often DHS can request it. The system could easily be expanded to acquire all the information the IRS holds on taxpayers, said technical experts and IRS engineers who reviewed the documents. By shifting a single parameter, the program could return more information than just a target’s address, said an engineer familiar with the plan, including employer and familial relationships.</p>
  507. <p>Engineers based at IRS offices in Lanham, Maryland, and Dallas are developing the blueprint.</p>
  508. <h3 class="wp-block-heading">“Gone Back on Its Word”</h3>
  509. <p>For decades, the American government has encouraged everyone who makes an income in the U.S. to pay taxes — regardless of immigration status — with an implicit promise that their information would be protected. Now that same data may be used to locate and deport noncitizens.</p>
  510. <p>“For years, the IRS has told immigrants that it only cares that they pay their taxes,” said Nandan Joshi, an attorney with the Public Citizen Litigation Group, which is seeking to block the data-sharing agreement in federal court. “By agreeing to share taxpayer data with ICE on a mass basis, the IRS has gone back on its word.”</p>
  511. <p>The push to share IRS data with DHS emerged while Elon Musk’s&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-doge-tracker/">DOGE</a>&nbsp;reshaped the engineering staff of the IRS. Sam Corcos, a Silicon Valley startup founder with no government experience, pushed out more than 50 IRS engineers and restructured the agency’s engineering priorities while he was the senior DOGE official at the agency. He later became chief information officer at Treasury. He has also led a separate IRS effort to create a master database using products from Silicon Valley giant Palantir Technologies, enabling the government to link and search large swaths of data.</p>
  512. <p>Corcos didn’t respond to a request for comment. The White House said DOGE is not part of the DHS-IRS pact.</p>
  513. <p>Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee on Finance, which oversees the IRS, told ProPublica the system being built was ripe for abuse. It “would allow an outside agency unprecedented access to IRS records for reasons that have nothing to do with tax administration, opening the door to endless fishing expeditions,” he said.</p>
  514. <p>The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the department’s internal watchdog,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-irs-treasury-tigta-inspector-general-probe">is already probing efforts by Trump and DOGE</a><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-doge-irs-treasury-tigta-inspector-general-probe">&nbsp;</a>to obtain private taxpayer data and other sensitive information, ProPublica reported in April.</p>
  515. <p>The Trump administration continues to add government agencies to its deportation drive.</p>
  516. <p>DOGE and DHS are also working to build a national citizenship database,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/06/29/nx-s1-5409608/citizenship-trump-privacy-voting-database">NPR reported last month</a>. The database links information from the Social Security Administration and the DHS, ostensibly for the purpose of allowing state and local election officials to verify U.S. citizenship.</p>
  517. <p>And in May, a senior Treasury Department official directed 250 IRS criminal investigative agents to help deportation operations, a significant shift for two agencies that historically have had separate missions.</p>
  518. ]]></content:encoded>
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