Free Republic

SB-771 threatens to turn digital platforms into ideological enforcers, punishing those who hold traditional, faith-based viewpoints. California lawmakers are once again leading the charge — not toward progress, but toward repression. Their latest move, Senate Bill 771 (SB-771), is being packaged as a bold stand against “hate” on social media. In reality, it’s a direct assault on the free expression and constitutionally protected speech of ministries, minority groups, and faith-based organizations. The bill would force Big Tech to remove content that could be interpreted as “harassment” or “intimidation” based on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more — or face...

A controversial bill awaiting California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature would slap steep new penalties on social media platforms that fail to censor content deemed in violation of the state’s civil rights laws. SB 771, which passed both chambers of the state legislature and was sent to Newsom’s desk on Monday, imposes fines of up to $1,000,000 on social media platforms that fail to remove content that violates the state’s civil rights laws. Critics warn the measure will lead to sweeping censorship of lawful speech. Lawmakers defended SB 771 by citing “rising incidents of hate-motivated harm,” including “hate crimes involving...

Vigilant Fox 🦊 @VigilantFox REPORT: As America grieved Charlie Kirk’s death, California rammed through one of the harshest censorship bills in U.S. history. SB 771 gives the state sweeping power to police online speech—with penalties so crushing they could bankrupt ordinary citizens. Lawmakers approved $500,000 fines for “hateful” posts, and $1 million for willful violations. In under a week, the bill shot through both chambers and now sits on Gavin Newsom’s desk. If signed, politicians—not the people—will decide which words are allowed, and which could destroy your life. This isn’t just a California problem. The same playbook is already silencing...

Google on Tuesday promised to restore YouTube accounts that have been banned for political speech, admitting that the Biden administration pressured it to censor Americans that did not violate the company’s terms of service, in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). “Reflecting the Company’s commitment to free expression, YouTube will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect,” a lawyer representing Google wrote to Jordan. The letter would likely affect pro-Trump political commentators...

FIRST ON FOX: Google vowed on Tuesday to offer YouTube accounts that were permanently banned for political speech the ability to be reinstated, and the big tech giant admitted that it once faced pressure from the Biden administration to remove content about COVID-19. Google detailed its remarkable shift in a document, first obtained by Fox News Digital, that a lawyer for the company provided to the House Judiciary Committee. The new policy from Google, also known by its parent company Alphabet, could affect both average users and well-known figures like FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, White House counterterrorism chief Sebastian...

Although the winter 2022 truckers’ protest against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s punitive vaccine mandates shook Canada down to its mukluks, it no longer dominates the headlines. Still, it remains in public consciousness. Prominent protest members were recently convicted or are still on trial. Its implications are still with us, and its long-term effects may well be seismic. The Freedom Convoy traversed the country from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to the nation’s capital in Ottawa to protest the biggest experiment ever in authoritarian rule over Canadians—COVID lockdowns and, particularly, the vaccines. The truckers and their fellow convoy travelers demanded the attention...

The Harris-Biden administration’s campaign to censor COVID-related content on Facebook during the height of the pandemic – as revealed by a remorseful Mark Zuckerberg this week – was so aggressive that it even cracked down on lighthearted memes, satirical posts and regular old jokes. On Monday, Zuckerberg admitted in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that “senior Biden administration officials, including the White House, “repeatedly pressured” Facebook parent Meta to “censor” pandemic-related content in 2021, as well as The Post’s exclusive reporting on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. The takedown requests included posts that Zuckerberg considered...

Once a left-wing fetish, the heckler’s veto has gained conservative adherents. It's a given that if one party to a disagreement keeps breaking the rules in order to harm opponents, the other participants will eventually sink to the challenge and adopt—or escalate—out-of-bounds tactics themselves. That's bad enough in any conflict, but it can be disastrous for a free and open society if the rules being broken by all parties are fundamental free speech norms. For years, we've seen left-leaning students and faculty on college campuses shout down and sometimes assault speakers with whom they disagree. Now right-leaning students have joined...

Attorney General Pamela Bondi issued a memorandum to all United States Attorneys highlighting the Department of Justice’s policy to prevent and act upon violations of parental rights and First Amendment liberties in educational settings. Bondi directed United States Attorneys to work with federal, state, and local partners to identify and respond to credible threats against parents whose federal rights have been violated. 20250908-AG-Bondi-Memo by scott.mcclallen "The First Amendment guarantees the right of every citizen to speak freely, assemble peaceably, and petition the government for redress of grievances-including at public school board meetings," the memo said. "These rights do not yield...

Nepal’s government responded to escalating violent protests over a ban on popular social media platforms with deadly force. The public outrage over the ban and the deaths of 19 protesters on Monday led to the resignation of the prime minister and exposed deep discontent over corruption. Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli also rolled backed the short-lived ban after protesters turned their anger on politicians by setting fire to homes of some of the country’s top leaders. Led by mostly teenagers and young adults, the protests revealed a broader resentment in Nepal, where many people have increasingly become angry with the...

A top aide and confidante to former Obama official Lois Lerner who targeted conservatives and conservative groups was fired by the Internal Revenue Service, Fox News Digital has learned. Sources told Fox News Digital that Holly Paz, who served as the IRS Commissioner of Large Business and International Division, was terminated Monday. Paz was placed on administrative leave last month and was subsequently fired following an internal review, sources say.

In Britain, mocking transgender ideology online, waving the British flag, or reading the Bible on a street corner is now enough to land you in prison – even as the British judicial system lets child rapists out of prison early and ignores a growing wave of violent migrant crime. A recent viral story of an Irish comedian who was arrested earlier this month provides the latest shocking evidence of just how dystopian Britain has become – and how it may not even be safe for Americans to travel there anymore. Graham Linehan was arriving at London’s Heathrow airport on September...

Director of the National Institutes of Health Jay Bhattacharya yesterday claimed that the First Amendment is a “dead letter”. Speaking at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington DC, the former Stanford professor warned that America’s constitutional protections for free expression dissolved during the Covid pandemic and remain unenforceable even today. “The First Amendment still doesn’t apply in practice,” he said. “Free speech rights exist right now only because the administration has chosen to allow them, not because the First Amendment is protecting us.” Bhattacharya, best known for co-authoring the 2020 Great Barrington Declaration, said his own experience during the pandemic...

US President Donald Trump has criticised the UK's laws around online speech, saying "strange things are happening" there and that it was "not a good thing". The remarks were in response to a reporter's question during a White House dinner hosting prominent tech leaders.

We’ve known for a very long time in this country that if you said the wrong thing about the trans issue, you could be canceled. But now, finally, there are people — heretofore on the Left — who are acknowledging that the threat of cancellation has been real. This is just one of the beautiful flowering fruits of the Trump administration: people are now free to say things they weren’t allowed to say before. It’s not clear whether people are deciding that they want to say what is currently more popular or if they genuinely repent having been bullied into...

The Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan was once known for his charming, sometimes surreal sitcoms—Father Ted, Black Books, The IT Crowd—on British TV. These days, however, he is better known for his online crusade against transgender activism. His X feed takes the same approach as Libs of TikTok, cherry-picking videos of criminals and fetishists in a full-scale assault on “gender ideology.” He is obsessive and offensive. But is he a criminal? The British police seem to think so. Linehan was arrested by five armed officers today on his return from the United States, where he has been working on a...

Britain, once the freest, most democratic country in the world, is descending into anarcho-tyranny. Bereft of a moral compass, contemptuous of public opinion, uninterested in our glorious history of ordered freedom, the British state’s nomenklatura are presiding over an intolerable mix of chaos and authoritarianism, failing to tackle genuine criminality while persecuting respectable citizens for their thoughts and speech. The contradictions, double-standards and selective enforcement are a national scandal. They threaten to turn us into a pariah state, shunned or even sanctioned by true believers in liberty. Nigel Farage was in Washington, explaining to shocked Anglophile congressmen just how far...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage warned the U.S. Congress that censorship laws in Britain will have a stifling effect on free speech throughout the West and urged the American government to pressure London to adhere to its values of liberty. Appearing before the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Brexit boss Nigel Farage likened his native country of Britain to “North Korea” with its increasingly censorious stance towards online speech.

The co-creator of the U.K. sitcom "Father Ted" was arrested at London Heathrow Airport on Monday allegedly over several social media posts criticizing transgender activists. Graham Linehan recounted the ordeal on his Substack, saying there were signs of something strange happening before he landed in London. According to the former comedy writer, a gate agent in the U.S. said he did not have a seat on his flight back home and needed to be issued a new ticket – something he didn’t think much of at the time. However, since the arrest, Linehan wrote on Substack that he believes he...

Will British-style online age verification for social media sites crash through America’s First Amendment?As social media companies begin to navigate the patchwork of age verification laws in parts of the United States, people in Great Britain are dealing with the frustrating reality of those diktats.The Online Safety Act (OSA) requires all websites to ensure that users are over the age of 18. The sites have to use facial recognition, ID scans, digital identity wallets, or bank documents to confirm someone’s identity, instead of the usual box-ticking exercises that Americans check when they visit certain sites.Kids Online Safety Act …...