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The Daily Wire, The Federalist, Texas v. State Department

CASE SUMMARY

The U.S. State Department funds the development, testing, and marketing of censorship technology used to suppress First Amendment-protected speech by conservative media outlets including The Daily Wire and The Federalist based on viewpoints expressed in their content.

The State Department uses its Global Engagement Center (“GEC”) to finance the development and promotion of censorship technology and enterprises, including NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index. These government-funded and government-promoted censorship technologies and enterprises target many conservative media outlets, including The Daily Wire and The Federalist, seeking to defund and suppress conservative news. These organizations create blacklists to discredit and demonetize American media outlets they brand “risky” or “unreliable,” aiming to redirect advertiser money and audiences to outlets that publish favored viewpoints.

The State Department’s censorship scheme clearly violates the First Amendment rights of The Daily Wire, The Federalist, and numerous similar outlets, and the State Department and its GEC lack congressionally delegated authority to fund such censorship technologies, making this action ultra vires.  The State of Texas has joined NCLA in this lawsuit, recognizing that this enterprise interferes in its sovereign interest in enforcing Texas’ law requiring social media companies with market power to provide non-discriminatory services as a common carrier. and that doing so interferes in its sovereign interest in enforcing Texas’ law requiring social media companies with market power to provide non-discriminatory services as a common carrier.  The district court determined that Plaintiffs had made a sufficient showing to warrant expedited discovery to discern the full extent of the government’s unlawful scheme.

OUR TEAM

Jenin Younes
Litigation Counsel
Margaret A. Little
Senior Litigation Counsel
Casey Norman
Litigation Counsel
Margot Cleveland
Of Counsel

RELEVANT MATERIALS

NCLA FILINGS

Plaintiff's Response in Opposition to Defendant's Rule 12(h)(3) Motion to Dismiss, Alternatively Motion to Reconsider (Dkt. 53)

September 20, 2024 | Read More

Order Granting Expedited Discovery

May 7, 2024 | Read More

Memorandum Opinion and Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Transfer

May 7, 2024 | Read More

Plaintiffs’ Reply in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction

April 12, 2024 | Read More

Plaintiffs’ Response in Opposition to Motion to Dismiss

April 10, 2024 | Read More

SEE 8 FILINGS
PRESS RELEASES

NCLA Defeats Motion to Dismiss, Wins Expedited Discovery in Suit Alleging State Dept. Censorship

May 7, 2024 | Read More

NCLA Seeks Injunction to Halt U.S. State Department-Funded Censorship of Domestic Speech & Press

February 7, 2024 | Read More

NCLA Launches Lawsuit Against U.S. State Department-Funded Censorship Regime

December 6, 2023 | Read More

IN THE MEDIA

All the News Fit for You To Hear

December 6, 2023

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