David Kaye
@davidakaye.bsky.social
16K followers 950 following 380 posts

californian. human rights, free expression, tech, international law. uc irvine. fulbright. article 19. prior: UN special rapporteur, GNI chair. edu coalition (dm for details) go bears!

David Kaye is an American politician who served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression between August 2014 and July 2020, succeeded by Irene Khan. .. more

Law 28%
Political science 21%
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davidakaye.bsky.social
👀 Jim Jordan held a House Judiciary Committee hearing on . . . how Europe censors Americans. Nigel Farage came along! Let's just say I have a slightly different view than them. My written and oral testimony are here: ijclinic.law.uci.edu/2025/09/03/h...

Here are my concluding paras:
last paragraph of testimony:  "I urge this Committee to consider the real threat to Americans’ freedom of
expression, the one here at home. I have noted a handful of areas where this administration is
putting freedom of expression under direct attack. Where is the opposition, let alone outrage,
given the attack not only on speakers – journalists, public media, professors, students,
whistleblowers, civil servants – but on every American’s right of access to information about the
issues important to our democracy and to our public’s health? That, I would respectfully submit,
is the real threat to American speech and innovation, and I look forward to helping this
Committee, in any way you see fit, work to address it."

davidakaye.bsky.social
‘is europe going to be a beacon of democratic resilience - or a vassal.’

- @johnnyryan.bsky.social

on *the* question facing european leaders at @article19.bsky.social @openmarkets.bsky.social conference

Reposted by David H. Kaye

article19.bsky.social
‘The entire information environment is influenced not just by monopolistic platforms but increasingly by the seemingly ‘do no wrong’ AI industry + corporate surveillance’ – @davidakaye.bsky.social on the hold of corporate power over free speech.

@openmarkets.bsky.social

Reposted by David H. Kaye

openmarkets.bsky.social
Happening NOW in Brussels:
How can Europe protect its democracy from foreign tech monopolies?
Join @openmarkets.bsky.social & @article19.bsky.social for two days of debate, insight, and strategy.
📺 Livestream here → www.youtube.com/live/KlO8ta8...
#DigitalSovereignty #Democracy #FreeSpeech
The Future of Democracy: Speech, Thought, Sovereignty, and Power in the Age of Platforms and AI
YouTube video by Open Markets Institute
www.youtube.com

Reposted by David H. Kaye

openmarkets.bsky.social
TODAY & tomorrow in Brussels:
Experts, lawmakers, and advocates will gather to debate one of the defining challenges of our time — protecting free speech and democratic sovereignty in the digital/AI age.

Join the conversation at 9 AM CET: www.youtube.com/live/KlO8ta8...
The Future of Democracy: Speech, Thought, Sovereignty, and Power in the Age of Platforms and AI
YouTube video by Open Markets Institute
www.youtube.com

davidakaye.bsky.social
it’s amazing how quickly the united states has gone from avatar for free speech to leading censor in the democratic world. generational damage.

davidakaye.bsky.social
just to restate the goal here: it’s not [only] about punishing the press; it’s about blocking the public’s knowledge about american national security. censorship is the keyword.
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 1d
Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb
Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass
Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says.
n.pr
npr.org
NPR @npr.org · 1d
Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says. n.pr/4q87Jwb
Opinion: Why I'm handing in my Pentagon press pass
Tom Bowman has held his Pentagon press pass for 28 years. He says the Pentagon's new media policy makes it impossible to be a journalist, which means finding out what's really going on behind the scenes and not accepting wholesale what any government or administration says.
n.pr

davidakaye.bsky.social
completely agree that this is strategic, part of the overall effort to throw doubt into every bit of historical & scientific reality. the problem is not just building an alternative reality for 'the base' but also media reporting such propaganda as just another claim.

davidakaye.bsky.social
this is framed as hegseth's hostility to the press, which is of course accurate. but it's ultimately about hostility to public access to information, trying to envelop DoD in a bubble of silence.
Inside Hegseth’s Effort to Limit Press Access at the Pentagon
www.nytimes.com

davidakaye.bsky.social
nso group as an american company???

a 🧵 👇
jsrailton.bsky.social
NEW: Pegasus spyware coming to America?

An ex-Adam Sandler producer with ties to China is trying to acquire NSO Group.

Again.

Simonds fronted this before in 2023 & failed. But the backers haven't given up. Why?

Where is the money coming from? 1/

www.globes.co.il/news/article...

Reposted by David H. Kaye

jsrailton.bsky.social
NEW: Pegasus spyware coming to America?

An ex-Adam Sandler producer with ties to China is trying to acquire NSO Group.

Again.

Simonds fronted this before in 2023 & failed. But the backers haven't given up. Why?

Where is the money coming from? 1/

www.globes.co.il/news/article...

Reposted by David H. Kaye

djrothkopf.bsky.social
We should all be happy for any progress toward a cessation of hostilities in Gaza and especially for the release of the surviving hostages. That said: editors and writers need to be clear a temporary ceasefire is not a "peace" deal. What we're talking about is phase one of a multiphase plan.

davidakaye.bsky.social
is there a grievance mechanism here?
noupside.bsky.social
Sens Ted Cruz and Eric Schmitt are holding their hearing on the Biden Censorship Regime of 2018. Watch live here as they try to figure out: who was president in 2020?

Witnesses: Alex Berenson, Sean Davis of the Federalist,
Eugene Volokh, Gene Kimmelman

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QRu...
LIVE: Ted Cruz Leads Senate Hearing About 'How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans'
YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News
www.youtube.com

davidakaye.bsky.social
i thought USC liked Trojan horses but 🤷‍♂️ - I'm a UC guy.
In forceful speeches, University of Southern California department chairs, professors, researchers and others who attended the virtual meeting called the compact “egregiously invalid,” “probably unconstitutional,” “antithetical to principles of academic freedom” and “a Trojan horse.”

davidakaye.bsky.social
i can say with confidence that this is how most faculty senate meetings discussing the 'compact' would go down. it's terrible and seen for what it is - trump's effort to end university autonomy in favor of rw dominance.

faculty get it. the question is whether administrators do.
USC faculty members denounce Trump compact that would shift university to the right
The USC Academic Senate held a special meeting to discuss the Trump administration's education compact, which was presented to the school last week.
www.latimes.com
dwj88.bsky.social
A secret meeting with X. A senior State Dept. advisor just out of college. The VP's speech in Munich. Pressure on European regulators.

What do they share? They're all part of an agenda to turn the transatlantic alliance into a far right international:

www.techpolicy.press/trumps-state...
Trump’s State Department Wants to Use Tech Policy to Remake Europe In Its Image | TechPolicy.Press
Tech policy is a key part of the Trump administration's dramatic project to replace the US's traditional European alliances, Dean Jackson writes.
www.techpolicy.press
brendannyhan.bsky.social
My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele

davidakaye.bsky.social
this statement by the American Council of Learned Societies, one of the key orgs in higher ed, is exactly right.

reject the 'compact'. no ifs, no studies.

read and share and, for your opeds, steal.
I cannot post the entire alt text but it begins: On October 1, the White House proposed to nine leading American universities that they agree to a list of demands in exchange for receiving preferential access to research funding. The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” undermines the long-standing independence of American academia. It works against the best interests of colleges and universities and of every one of us who has benefited from the knowledge they produce. We call for its immediate rejection by all institutions of higher education.

davidakaye.bsky.social
and not only 'what would you call it?' - what would you want *your* government to do about it? sit idly by? strike economic deals? or shun it and speak out against it?

davidakaye.bsky.social
you're looking at a foreign country. the government rounds up people on the basis of skin color or other characteristic, puts them in 'detention' facilities, separates families, deports them without process, confiscates their property, denies them access to counsel. what would you call it?

davidakaye.bsky.social
i reported for the UN Human Rights Council on how government demands on access providers, like the ones trump is pursuing, constitute a serious human rights violation. see docs.un.org/A/HRC/35/22
The government actions described below often fail to meet the standards of human
rights law. Moreover, a lack of transparency pervades government interferences with the
digital access industry. Failures of transparency include vague laws providing excessive
discretion to authorities, legal restrictions on third party disclosures concerning government
access to user data and specific gag orders. The lack of transparency undermines the rule of
law as well as public understanding across this sector.5

davidakaye.bsky.social
the trump admin is taking aim at every point of access to information and protection. app stores, media outlets, platforms, AI tools, everything.
404media.co
New: Apple just removed ICEBlock, the app for reporting sightings of ICE, from its App Store after DOJ pressure. ICEBlock's developer tells 404 Media "we are determined to fight this."

"Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move."

www.404media.co/iceblock-own...
ICEBlock Owner After Apple Removes App: ‘We Are Determined to Fight This’
Apple removed ICEBlock reportedly after direct pressure from Department of Justice officials. “I am incredibly disappointed by Apple's actions today. Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never t...
www.404media.co