April 2025 Newsletter

April 2025 Report

Inside This Edition:

US Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Censorship Industrial Complex

US Sen. Eric Schmitt Commits to Fighting Media Censorship

Gail Slater Confirmed to Lead DOJ’s Antitrust Division

New Report on Big Pharma’s Ties to NewsGuard

Anti-Media Censorship Legislation Presses on in the States

NewsGuard & Censorship Media Roundup

OVERVIEW

The evidence that the Censorship Industrial Complex is suppressing conservative and independent voices continues to mount, with growing calls for action to preserve the First Amendment.

This past month, US Sen. Eric Schmitt chaired a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on censorship. Witnesses testified that media monitors such as NewsGuard are tools used by the government and companies to reward media outlets that do not pose a threat to the deep state, while those outlets that challenge prevailing government narratives are penalized.

Sen. Schmitt posted a detailed thread on censorship and committed to fighting against it, which was shared by Elon Musk and influencers.

As censorship threats become more visible, so too do allies in the fight. In March, the Senate confirmed Gail Slater to head the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Slater, a former JD Vance advisor, will be a free press and free speech advocate.

Anti-media censorship legislation in the states continues to make headway. The legislation would prevent state agencies from using taxpayer dollars on media monitors. More progress is expected in the month ahead.

Read on for more details and please keep us posted on your organization’s efforts to defend and protect free speech.

GOVERNMENT

FEDERAL

US Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Censorship Industrial Complex

The following are highlights from the March hearing that pertain to NewsGuard and media monitors:

Committee Chair Eric Schmitt (R-MO) cited a poster listing NewsGuard as part of the Censorship Industrial Complex and reported that NewsGuard limits free speech through its blacklists, sharing that the organization declined the invitation to testify.
Mollie Hemingway, Editor-in-Chief for The Federalist, testified that NewsGuard produces censorship tools and blacklists which favor liberal media. As noted in a Federalist story about the hearing:

As described by Hemingway, censorship tools employed by groups such as GDI and NewsGuard “routinely rate leftwing news outlets, that are no threat to the permanent bureaucracy, higher than those that challenge prevailing orthodoxies.” These deceptively crafted lists are subsequently used by companies to “boycott some publications and reward others with advertising.”

Benjamin Weingarten, an independent investigative journalist, argued NewsGuard undermines right-leaning media outlets.

Hearing Video and Witness Testimony: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/the-censorship-industrial-complex

US Sen. Eric Schmitt Commits to Fighting Media Censorship

Sen. Schmitt shared a comprehensive thread on X detailing the inner workings of the censorship industrial complex. The thread went viral, and was reposted by leading news organizations and influencers, including Elon Musk.

Schmitt forewarned, “The stories I’ve shared in this thread are just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned. This fight is just getting started.”

Gail Slater Confirmed to Lead DOJ’s Antitrust Division

The US Senate’s confirmation of Gail Slater to lead the Department of Justice’s antitrust division is a big win in the fight against conservative and independent media censorship.

Slater is expected to be an ally in The IMC’s efforts to stop groups like NewsGuard from blacklisting news outlets and will protect the First Amendment.

Here is an exchange from her confirmation hearing, in which she and US Sen. Eric Schmitt discuss the evidence of advertiser collusion from a GARM report (X post courtesy of IMC member Mike Davis of The Internet Accountability Project).

New Report: How Big Pharma’s Favorite Ad Agency Helped Create NewsGuard

Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest ad agencies and a major supporter of NewsGuard, has received over $500 million from U.S. government contracts, according to a new report by the Foundation for Freedom Online (FFOF). Among the report’s findings:

Publicis handles the advertising and PR for the world’s leading pharma companies.
Publicis once offered the use of NewsGuard’s blacklists to its clients, and, until this December, maintained a seat on NewsGuard’s board of directors.
The company has been unresponsive to inquiries about the current status of its relationship with NewsGuard.
Publicis receives large sums of U.S. taxpayer money, including a $394.2 million contract with the Department of Health ad Human Services (HHS), for the CDC’s national tobacco education campaign.

Read the report here: https://foundationforfreedomonline.com/big-pharma-agency-newsguard-publicis-groupe/?swcfpc=1

STATE

Legislative Efforts to Stop Media Censorship

The IMC is supporting legislation to prevent state governments from utilizing media monitoring services such as NewsGuard.

Legislation was introduced in Alabama (HB 282) in February that would: prohibit state and local agencies from utilizing media monitoring organizations; prohibit state and local agencies from entering into an agreement with a company that uses media monitoring services; and prohibit state and local agencies from providing support to a media monitoring organization. The legislation is expected to advance out of committee this month.

Similar legislation will be introduced in various states.

MEDIA

Newsmax by Solange Reyner, 3/27/25

Feds Gave Publicis Hundreds of Millions as They Targeted Conservatives

Washington Examiner by Robert Schmad, 3/26/25

Anti-conservative disinformation group quietly rebranded following Trump victory

The Federalist by Shawn Fleetwood, 3/25/25

Mollie Hemingway Delivers Masterclass Explainer on the ‘Government-Funded’ War on Free Speech

The American Spectator by David Catron, 3/23/25

The Global Censorship Cancer

The Daily Signal by Fred Lucas, 3/21/25

USAID Coordinated with Censorship Agency, Documents Show