Email from The Institute for Free Speech The Latest News from the Institute for Free Speech May 2, 2025 Click here to subscribe to the Daily Media Update. This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected]. FEC Statement of Reasons of Vice Chairman James E. “Trey” Trainor, III and Commissioner Allen J. Dickerson (MURs 8328/8342/8343) .....As we have noted before, FECA “has always included an explicit statutory protection for ‘the press’ and ‘the media.’” This carve-out is “Congress’s creation, and we have been obligated to give it force.” But is worth asking why such an exception exists in the first place. After all, the stated purpose of FECA is to regulate money spent to influence elections, and there is no question that those media entities do just that on a large scale. Indeed, many press outlets employ explicitly partisan hosts and journalists and make endorsements in election contests. Yet the media falls entirely outside the Act, which otherwise imposes a licensing regime on similar speech and association. Why? The answer, we believe, is that Congress understood that imposing the strictures of the campaign finance laws on media entities would fetter their expression. This is, of course, revealing. If a burden would be too much for the Washington Post or National Public Radio, how much more so for the rest of us? Politico: Departure on FEC hobbles the election enforcement agency By Jessica Piper .....The Federal Election Commision, the agency responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws, is again without enough members to take official action after a Republican commissioner announced his departure on Wednesday. The agency is paralyzed without a quorum and cannot vote on things like the outcomes of investigations, citing committees for campaign finance violations, and issuing advisory opinions or guidance for campaigns. Allen Dickerson, who was confirmed to the FEC in 2020, is the second commissioner to willingly depart the agency this year, following Republican Sean Cooksey’s resignation in January. President Donald Trump also sought to fire Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat, in February. She publicly contended that the firing was illegal but has not participated in recent commission votes and is no longer listed on the agency’s website. The FEC has six commissioner spots, and four is required for a quorum, but Dickerson’s departure leaves the agency with just three commissioners. Dickerson and the three remaining commissioners — Trey Trainor, Dara Lindenbaum and Shana Broussard — voted on several matters in Wednesday’s agency meeting before Dickerson announced his resignation. The Courts News/Media Alliance: News/Media Alliance Joins Amicus Brief in Gopher Media v. Melone .....On March 24, 2025, the News/Media Alliance joined an amicus brief led by RCFP in Gopher Media LLC v. Melone, on appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, urging the Ninth Circuit to find that California’s anti-SLAPP substantive provisions, including the fee-shifting provision that is trigged upon a defendant prevailing on an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike, apply in diversity cases in federal court. Trump Administration Wall Street Journal: Trump Says He Is Revoking Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status By Gareth Vipers and Richard Rubin .....President Trump ramped up his fight with Harvard University, threatening to revoke the Ivy League school’s tax exemption after it filed a federal lawsuit against his administration. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Friday. Guardian: White House launches news-style site to promote favorable coverage of Trump By Joseph Gedeon .....The Trump administration has unveiled a news-style website that publishes exclusively positive coverage of the president on official White House servers. White House Wire, published at the government domain WH.gov/wire, resembles the rightwing website the Drudge Report, with a list of headlines from right-leaning outlets praising the administration. It also promotes White House press releases and social media posts by high-level officials. The administration’s launch of what it describes as a news “wire” comes amid its ongoing efforts to restrict real news wire services from accessing the White House. Newsweek: FBI Issues Advice on 'Swatting' Threat Across US By Sophie Clark .....The FBI has issued a public service announcement warning Americans about the dangers of "swatting." Swatting is the criminal practice of calling law enforcement, for example a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, to someone's house in order to harass or intimidate them… This week's advisory says "threat actors" use various tools and tactics to facilitate swatting. They "compile sensitive information from a wide range of publicly available sources, including online accounts," and often employ spoofing technology to hide their identities, according to the FBI. This may involve falsifying the origin of calls or messages to make it appear as though a threat is coming from the intended swatting victim. The FBI has urged the public to take proactive steps to protect themselves. Recommendations include reviewing one's digital footprint for sensitive data, limiting the sharing of personal content online, using strong and unique passwords, and enabling multifactor authentication on accounts and smart devices. Wall Street Journal: Coming Soon for CEOs, a MAGA-Infused Business Association By Dana Mattioli .....A new group out of Washington, D.C., aims to offer an alternative to longstanding executive networks like the Business Roundtable, but with a MAGA makeover. American Growth Partnership, founded by several former Republican campaign and congressional aides, will offer monthly briefings and off-the-record roundtable discussions between its members and Trump appointees, aides and policymakers. The group will start this month. Membership will be tiered and start from $50,000 to $100,000, according to a person familiar with the matter. Candidates and Campaigns OpenSecrets: Outside money, inside influence: How national donors shaped the 2024 congressional elections By Robby Brod .....In 2024, campaign fundraising in federal elections was more nationalized than ever. Candidates for both the House and Senate continued a decades-long trend of relying less on donations from the voters they represent and more on contributions from donors across the country. The nationalization of campaign contributions, once a concern among elections experts, is now a defining feature of congressional campaigns. An analysis of 2024 House and Senate campaign data reveals just how deeply this transformation has taken hold. From candidates in small states with limited donor bases to top congressional leaders with national profiles — and especially in competitive races in battleground states — non-local campaign contributions were ubiquitous. The States Texas Tribune: With AI on the rise, Texas House passes bill requiring more transparency in political ads By Kate McGee .....The Texas House of Representatives approved a bill Wednesday requiring political advertisements to include disclosures if the image, audio, or video recording used were substantially altered. Former House Speaker Dade Phelan — who endured a barrage of political attacks last year during his reelection and speaker campaigns— said he authored HB 366 to ensure voters understand when materials used in ads had been faked, as the use of generative artificial intelligence makes it easier to manipulate media that could use falsely represent a candidate’s conduct or speech… The bill would require the disclosure by officeholders, candidates or political committees who used altered media in ads and spend more than $100 for political advertising. It would task the Texas Ethics Commision with determining what the disclosure would look like, including font, size and color. Violators would be charged with a Class A misdemeanor. The bill faced fierce opposition from hardline conservatives who say it is policing speech and could allow the state to jail people over silly political memes. “We have an electorate that is informed and we already have platforms where people can talk,” said Rep. Andy Hopper, R-Decatur. “It is not the role of government to sit there and be a nanny state police force to decide.” The bill passed out of the House with a vote of 102-40. It now heads to the Senate. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pa. lawmakers mull bill with $250,000-a-day penalty for AI-faked political ads By Ford Turner .....Spreading around artificial intelligence-crafted fakes of a political candidate during an election could lead to civil penalties of up to $250,000 a day under a bill that is being considered by a new legislative committee. The bill will likely be taken up soon by the House Communications & Technology Committee, Chairman Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, said on Monday. The committee held its first meeting last week and advanced a separate AI-related measure urging Congress to make it clear that creative works generated by machines are not copyrightable. Mr. Ciresi said he anticipates the candidate-fakes bill will pass the committee soon, with bipartisan support. 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