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Last week, I wrote about an unsuccessful challenge to the activities of the Office of Elections Cybersecurity within the California Secretary of State's office:Is The California Secretary of State Monitoring What You Publish Online? In that case,O'Handley v. Weber,2023 WL 2443073, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Secretary of State did not violate federal law when it notified Twitter of tweets containing false or misleading information that potentially violated the company's content-moderation policy.

More recently, Judge Terry A. Doughty, who sits in the Western District of Louisiana, refused to dismiss claims for "alleged coercion by the Biden Administration and various government agencies and officials of social-media companies, urging those companies to censor viewpoints and speakers disfavored by the Left". In thismemorandum ruling, Judge Doughty distinguishesO'Handleyas follows:

More recently, inO'Handley v. Weber, No. 22-15071, 2023 WL 2443073 (9th Cir. Mar. 10, 2023), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarified the distinction between government expression and government intimidation. There, the California Office of Elections Cybersecurity (OEC), headed by the California Secretary of States office, flagged posts on Facebook and Twitter as erroneous or misleading social media posts.Id. at 3. The companies removed most of the flagged posts, leading the plaintiff to file suit alleging, among other things, violation of the First Amendment.Id. at 2. Noting the distinction between attempts to convince and attempts to coerce, the court stated that government officials do not violate the First Amendment when they request that a private intermediary not carry a third partys speech so long as the officials do not threaten adverse consequences if the intermediary refuses to comply.Id. at 6 (citations omitted). Because the plaintiff failed to allege any threat or attempt at coercion aside from the takedown request, the court held that the plaintiff failed to allege state action through significant encouragement or coercion.

Here, Plaintiffs have clearly alleged that Defendants attempted to convince social-media companies to censor certain viewpoints. (Footnote omitted)

Judge Doughty gave the following examples of some of the alleged threats made by the defendants:

Further, the Complaint alleges threats, some thinly veiled and some blatant, made by Defendants in an attempt to effectuate its censorship program. One such alleged threat is that the Surgeon General issued a formal Request for Information to social-media platforms as an implied threat of future regulation to pressure them to increase censorship. Another alleged threat is the DHSs publishing of repeated terrorism advisory bulletins indicating that misinformation and disinformation on social-media platforms are domestic terror threats. While not a direct threat, equating failure to comply with censorship demands as enabling acts of domestic terrorism through repeated official advisory bulletins is certainly an action social-media companies would not lightly disregard. Moreover, the Complaint contains over 100 paragraphs of allegations detailing significant encouragement in private (i.e., covert) communications between Defendants and social-media platforms. (Footnotes omitted)

If the defendants ultimately lose, the outcome of this case may simply be that the government will continue to suppress disfavored speech but will do so with seven veils instead of one. It stands to reason that any request from a government agency might reasonably be perceived as including an implicit threat. If the government asks, however nicely, companies may feel the pressure to accede if for no other reason than to stay in the good graces of law makers and regulators.

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Ninth Circuit O'Handley v. Weber Government Censorship - The National Law Review

It was the Marcel production company, which has worked with the Palestinian Authoritys media for several years, which enabled the PBC to continue broadcasting in East Jerusalem despite an initial ban imposed by the Israeli authorities in November 2019. The order targeting Marcel could affect other media that benefit from its services.

Condemning the national security ministers closure order, the PBC said it exposed the falsehood that Israel is a democratic state and respects the work of the media [and] freedom of expression.

Marcels closure was made possible by a law adopted in 1995 as part of the implementation of the Oslo Accords that bans Palestinian Authority agencies from conducting activities within the city of Jerusalem. Dozens of events, press conferences and cultural gatherings have been banned over the years in East Jerusalem under this law.

This censorship of Palestine TV and Voice of Palestine has been preceded by constant attacks by Israel against Palestinian journalists and media. Since Shireen Abu Aklehs filmed murder in May 2022, RSF has compiled video and audio evidence of at least 11 other journalists being targeted or aggressed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank. Countless other attacks have taken place off camera.

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Indirect but effective censorship of two Palestinian Authority media ... - Reporters sans frontires

Bestselling author Anthony Horowitz has said he is against tampering with the works of dead writers, amid an ongoing row over sensitivity readers.

In recent months, texts by late authors such as Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie and James Bond creator Ian Fleming have been found to have been updated by their publishers and literary estates.

A number of prominent writers and public figures have spoken against the practice, with Sir Philip Pullman suggesting it would be better to let the books go out of print.

Appearing at Oxford Literary Festival, Horowitz, the bestselling author of books including the Alex Rider series as well as three Bond novels, reportedly said he believed it was better for children to read books that might be deemed offensive than none at all.

The Times also claimed he said Dahls publishers had shot themselves in the foot with the updates, which involved removing descriptions of characters as fat and ugly.

They really shot themselves in the foot with their attempts to bowdlerise it, he said, calling the changes sacrilege.

Im basically opposed to tampering with the work of dead writers, he said. They cant defend themselves. It seems to me that you should take the work, judge it and be aware of why we no longer share these opinions, or this view of the world. Rather than censor, cut and take out stuff.

He later added: Whatever your view of the book, even if it is something considered offensive or trivial or trite, it is better than not reading. As long as they read something.

(Getty Images)

Following a backlash, including unprecedented criticism from Queen Consort Camilla, Puffin said it would retain the new versions of Dahls books but also offer original editions.

An earlier statement had said the changes were made to ensure that the books could continue to be enjoyed by all today.

The Independent has contacted Horowitzs representatives and Puffin for comment.

Horowitz has previously complained about sensitivity readings of his own work.

Story continues

My publishers have been more nervous in the editing of my books, he claimed in an interview last year. Issues of levels of violence, language and attitudes do get more closely examined. Ive had some of my books read for sensitivity. But thats the 21st century. Peoples attitudes have changed and what didnt offend people 40 years ago does now.

Asked about how he approaches the character of 007, he remarked: When Im writing the books I always hear Sean Connery and see Daniel Craig. I am perfectly happy to defend Bond. My Bond is a man of the Fifties and Sixties, so he lives by a different moral code to the one we have now.

I refute the suggestion that he is chauvinistic or sexist or misogynistic. I think he treats women very well in the books and has great respect for them, yet I admit he has some of the attitudes that we now would not celebrate in the 21st century, but thats because the books were written in the 20th century. It was a different time.

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Anthony Horowitz says Roald Dahl publishers shot themselves in the foot over censorship row - Yahoo News

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Four of nine books that have been removed from schools in the Canyons School District and placed under review, Nov. 23, 2021. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin.

By Jody Plant | Special to The Tribune

| March 24, 2023, 12:00 p.m.

| Updated: March 25, 2023, 8:27 p.m.

The outmoded Davis School District has announced that it will remove the Nobel Prize-winning novel The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Davis Country has a disturbing history of censorship, racism and homophobia. One example of many is in 1978 Jeanne Layton, director of the Davis County Library in Bountiful, lost her job for refusing to remove Don DeLillos Americana from the library shelves.

As argued in a June 5, 2012, editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune, The Davis County School District is now targeting books for children that portray families headed by same-sex parents and a book with the message that bullying of homosexual teenagers is wrong. In Davis County, it seems, book banning based on intolerance is alive and well.

This recent decision to ban The Bluest Eye is outrageous, disturbing and tragic. The book is a masterpiece describing how racism and discrimination can ruin a childs life, any life, particularly a Black life. The book also addresses abuse against Black women and children, misconceived ideas of beauty, self loathing, harsh judgments and the lengths women will go to in order to fit with societal standards and how women continue the long fight for equality and respect.

Clearly, the Davis School Board is threatened by this Noble Prize strong work of fiction. We should all be alarmed by this action.

Toni Morrison is celebrated and censored, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Noble Prize in Literature, the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her books are vitally important, a clarion call for equality and humanity for all lives.

Morrisons rich storytelling gifts us clear narratives of the Black experience. She was an ebullient warrior against censorship, powerfully advocating for libraries and open access to literature for decades. She left the world a huge hole with her passing in 2019.

It seems Davis County would rather expose children to gun violence than allowing them the great experience of reading a Toni Morrison book.

Heres an idea, why not ban guns instead of books?

Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 1 to 19) in the United States. Every year, 19,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence. This is far more dangerous than a book about racism.

Lets keep our children safe, informed of critical Black history and educated with access to great books and libraries.

Jody Plant, Salt Lake City, is a visual artist and retired librarian.

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Davis County has a history of censorship, racism and homophobia. - Salt Lake Tribune

ISTANBUL

Russia on Tuesday claimed that "censorship and manipulation" of the media in Germany was in "full bloom."

Pointing to a German government report on the state of independent media in the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that Berlin had transferred at least 1.5 million ($1.6 million) to outlets in recent years.

"The 'independent, separate-from-the-state-budget' media received more than 1.5 million euros in cash and bank transfers," Zakharova said, pointing to Berlin's 2022 decision to remove Russian state news agency RT from its broadcasting network and statements from German officials saying they had no influence on information processes.

According to the 30-page report requested by lawmakers asking the government about the state of German independent media, 200 journalists were involved in the services for which the payments were made, including moderation, lecturing, and media training.

Zakharova also suggested that the information in the report was incomplete. "This is not all the state money and not all the journalists that Berlin contracts for its information and propaganda activities. This is explicitly stated in the government's response."

"That is, the German security forces pay journalists for no reason at all, no matter how, no one knows how much, and no one should know and will not know about this, because we are talking about 'state security considerations'," Zakharova further claimed, adding: "Censorship and manipulation of the media in Germany is in full bloom."

Germany's media regulator banned Russia's German-language TV channel RT Deutsch in January 2022, claiming that it lacked a valid license to operate in the country.

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Media 'censorship, manipulation' in Germany in 'full bloom,' Russia ... - Anadolu Agency | English