Berin Szóka
@berinszoka.bsky.social
President @TechFreedom.org | 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇪🇺🗽 | Lawyer: tech, free speech, FTC, FCC, admin | “Resident Antagonist”—Politico | “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right” | 🇫🇷🏳️🌈📚⛰️🥾🚣🎼 | doing PhD in 🇪🇺/🇺🇸 platform law @ Dublin City U
I'm not saying that libertarianism has become a grotesque Donald Trump-adjacent parody of its former self...
I'm saying that it's become a grotesque Mike-Benz-adjacent parody...
I'm saying that it's become a grotesque Mike-Benz-adjacent parody...
November 30, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I'm not saying that libertarianism has become a grotesque Donald Trump-adjacent parody of its former self...
I'm saying that it's become a grotesque Mike-Benz-adjacent parody...
I'm saying that it's become a grotesque Mike-Benz-adjacent parody...
Reposted by Berin Szóka
Imagine being so far gone into Trumpism/Republicanism that you would say this to someone who was shot in the head in an act of political violence.
MAGA legal world, man…
Gorsuch and Grassley should be so proud.
Gorsuch and Grassley should be so proud.
November 30, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Imagine being so far gone into Trumpism/Republicanism that you would say this to someone who was shot in the head in an act of political violence.
But calling everyone MAGA hates a "communist" is totally cool
Of course, under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), both are protected by the First Amendment because neither ”is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action"
Of course, under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), both are protected by the First Amendment because neither ”is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action"
Elon Musk, the guy who did two Nazi salutes in public and has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” thinks it should be a crime to “falsely” call someone a Nazi or a fascist.
November 27, 2025 at 11:51 AM
But calling everyone MAGA hates a "communist" is totally cool
Of course, under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), both are protected by the First Amendment because neither ”is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action"
Of course, under Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), both are protected by the First Amendment because neither ”is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action"
Reposted by Berin Szóka
This is how you do it.
BREAKING Jair Bolsonaro, convicted of attempting a military coup and the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, is ordered today to begin his 27-year sentence
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Bolsonaro out of appeals; will start 27-year sentence for coup attempt
The former Brazilian president will begin his sentence in a specially prepared cell at federal police headquarters in Brasília.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 26, 2025 at 2:18 AM
This is how you do it.
Extortion requires, more than anything, utter shamelessness—like not caring at all what the Supreme Court has said about the First Amendment or whether your filings are accurate or whether you obey basic FCC rules ajout disclosing your meetings with the FCC Chair
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Meet the conservative lawyer causing headaches for major news networks
Critics are concerned that Daniel Suhr, the head of a conservative legal group, may be pulling the strings behind many of the Trump FCC’s moves
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Extortion requires, more than anything, utter shamelessness—like not caring at all what the Supreme Court has said about the First Amendment or whether your filings are accurate or whether you obey basic FCC rules ajout disclosing your meetings with the FCC Chair
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
Reposted by Berin Szóka
"I’m not sure people have fully integrated the transformation America has undergone: One of America’s political parties is now on the side of various autocrats; and more or less half of America’s voters either agree with this position, or do not object to it."
www.thebulwark.com/p/america-he...
www.thebulwark.com/p/america-he...
America’s Heel Turn
Whose side are we on?
www.thebulwark.com
November 24, 2025 at 8:04 PM
"I’m not sure people have fully integrated the transformation America has undergone: One of America’s political parties is now on the side of various autocrats; and more or less half of America’s voters either agree with this position, or do not object to it."
www.thebulwark.com/p/america-he...
www.thebulwark.com/p/america-he...
The FTC has claimed "that certain DSA rules might conflict with American laws, particularly regarding freedom of expression and the security of United States citizens."
Obeying the DSA isn't unfair or deceptive: techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...
And the DSA ≠ censorship husovec.eu/wp-content/u...
Obeying the DSA isn't unfair or deceptive: techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...
And the DSA ≠ censorship husovec.eu/wp-content/u...
November 24, 2025 at 11:04 AM
The FTC has claimed "that certain DSA rules might conflict with American laws, particularly regarding freedom of expression and the security of United States citizens."
Obeying the DSA isn't unfair or deceptive: techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...
And the DSA ≠ censorship husovec.eu/wp-content/u...
Obeying the DSA isn't unfair or deceptive: techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...
And the DSA ≠ censorship husovec.eu/wp-content/u...
In August 2024, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened Musk & X with penalties under the Digital Services Act merely for hosting an interview with Trump--a gross abuse of the DSA. Now MAGA conspiracy theorist Mike Benz is attacking the very people who have condemned Breton and opposed censorship.
November 23, 2025 at 8:06 PM
In August 2024, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton threatened Musk & X with penalties under the Digital Services Act merely for hosting an interview with Trump--a gross abuse of the DSA. Now MAGA conspiracy theorist Mike Benz is attacking the very people who have condemned Breton and opposed censorship.
Reposted by Berin Szóka
"Enlisted personnel obey lawful orders; officers ensure the orders that reach them are lawful. The real constitutional failsafe...is the officer corps, obligated to the Constitution alone."
@markhertling.bsky.social on the military and illegal orders: www.thebulwark.com/p/what-ameri...
@markhertling.bsky.social on the military and illegal orders: www.thebulwark.com/p/what-ameri...
November 21, 2025 at 3:05 PM
"Enlisted personnel obey lawful orders; officers ensure the orders that reach them are lawful. The real constitutional failsafe...is the officer corps, obligated to the Constitution alone."
@markhertling.bsky.social on the military and illegal orders: www.thebulwark.com/p/what-ameri...
@markhertling.bsky.social on the military and illegal orders: www.thebulwark.com/p/what-ameri...
He's been inciting violence against journalists for years
Chabria: 'Quiet, piggy' wasn't a joke. It's a dangerous invitation to violence
Commentary: 'Quiet, piggy' wasn't a joke. It's a dangerous invitation to violence
'Hostile sexism' has long been linked to political violence, and no president has been more willing to publicly wield it than Donald Trump.
www.latimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:09 PM
He's been inciting violence against journalists for years
Any news distortion claim against an NPR/PBS station would require the FCC to prove that the station's management was directly involved in knowingly distorting the news. Here, if there was any distortion, it was done by the BBC, not US stations. Carrying, or quoting from, a BBC program isn't enough
November 19, 2025 at 11:21 PM
Any news distortion claim against an NPR/PBS station would require the FCC to prove that the station's management was directly involved in knowingly distorting the news. Here, if there was any distortion, it was done by the BBC, not US stations. Carrying, or quoting from, a BBC program isn't enough
This is how authoritarianism works: getting the media to obey in advance, without having to be told exactly what to do. It's working: broadcasters are changing their editorial line. Bari Weiss is running CBS News. Tech companies are rolling back content moderation. Advertisers are rolling over...
November 18, 2025 at 10:47 PM
This is how authoritarianism works: getting the media to obey in advance, without having to be told exactly what to do. It's working: broadcasters are changing their editorial line. Bari Weiss is running CBS News. Tech companies are rolling back content moderation. Advertisers are rolling over...
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson reportedly expects to be appointed to succeed Justice Thomas (for whom he clerked) to or an appeals court. So the FTC may soon be run entirely by Cmr Mark Meador, who would be even more aggressive in weaponizing the agency to coerce tech companies to favor MAGA speech
Melissa Holyoak left the Federal Trade Commission on Monday to become Utah's interim U.S. attorney, leaving the FTC down to two commissioners, both Republicans, in the Trump administration's latest use of interim U.S. attorney appointments. www.law360.com/artic...
November 18, 2025 at 10:03 PM
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson reportedly expects to be appointed to succeed Justice Thomas (for whom he clerked) to or an appeals court. So the FTC may soon be run entirely by Cmr Mark Meador, who would be even more aggressive in weaponizing the agency to coerce tech companies to favor MAGA speech
Trump's FTC Chair promised he'd use antitrust to stop Big Tech "censorship" of conservatives, but antitrust can only police anticompetitive business practices, not editorial judgments about speech. That's what SCOTUS meant in Moody v. NetChoice. My new essay explains:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 18, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Trump's FTC Chair promised he'd use antitrust to stop Big Tech "censorship" of conservatives, but antitrust can only police anticompetitive business practices, not editorial judgments about speech. That's what SCOTUS meant in Moody v. NetChoice. My new essay explains:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
SCOTUS: “the First Amendment prohibits government officials from relying on the threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion to achieve the suppression of disfavored speech”
TRUMP: My FCC Chair will make ABC reporters stop asking me about Epstein
TRUMP: My FCC Chair will make ABC reporters stop asking me about Epstein
Trump in response to an Epstein question: "ABC, your company, your crappy company is one of the perpetrators. I think the license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake and so wrong. And we have a great commissioner, a chairman, who should take a look at that."
November 18, 2025 at 7:45 PM
SCOTUS: “the First Amendment prohibits government officials from relying on the threat of invoking legal sanctions and other means of coercion to achieve the suppression of disfavored speech”
TRUMP: My FCC Chair will make ABC reporters stop asking me about Epstein
TRUMP: My FCC Chair will make ABC reporters stop asking me about Epstein
FCC Chairs for Reagan, Bush and Obama: please stop trying to police media bias/balance—which the Supreme Court has made clear the First Amendment bars
Ted Cruz: please stop acting like a mafioso out of Goodfellas
Carr: 👎
Very demure, very mindful
Ted Cruz: please stop acting like a mafioso out of Goodfellas
Carr: 👎
Very demure, very mindful
November 14, 2025 at 8:27 PM
FCC Chairs for Reagan, Bush and Obama: please stop trying to police media bias/balance—which the Supreme Court has made clear the First Amendment bars
Ted Cruz: please stop acting like a mafioso out of Goodfellas
Carr: 👎
Very demure, very mindful
Ted Cruz: please stop acting like a mafioso out of Goodfellas
Carr: 👎
Very demure, very mindful
My keyboard autocorrected "Max Schrems" to "Max Screams" and I am, well, screaming
November 13, 2025 at 10:57 PM
My keyboard autocorrected "Max Schrems" to "Max Screams" and I am, well, screaming
Reposted by Berin Szóka
The gov has no business policing free speech & expression. That’s why we’re helping a bipartisan group of former FCC chairs + commissioners, & former senior-level FCC staff, file a petition to end the news distortion policy. Read why respected Republicans and Democrats agree it should be rescinded.
Former FCC chairs urge agency to repeal 'news distortion' policy invoked by Trump administration
The policy was directly referenced by FCC Chair Brendan Carr in disputes over Jimmy Kimmel and "60 Minutes."
www.nbcnews.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:01 PM
The gov has no business policing free speech & expression. That’s why we’re helping a bipartisan group of former FCC chairs + commissioners, & former senior-level FCC staff, file a petition to end the news distortion policy. Read why respected Republicans and Democrats agree it should be rescinded.
Reposted by Berin Szóka
Reagan's first FCC Chair, Mark Fowler, blasts the current FCC Chair for betraying the First Amendment. Fowler set in motion the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the conjoined twin of the news distortion policy. He knows how dangerous government meddling in speech is
November 13, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reagan's first FCC Chair, Mark Fowler, blasts the current FCC Chair for betraying the First Amendment. Fowler set in motion the 1987 repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, the conjoined twin of the news distortion policy. He knows how dangerous government meddling in speech is
Reposted by Berin Szóka
Government has no business policing media for viewpoint bias or balance. The FCC must repeal its news distortion policy, urges a bipartisan group of 11 former FCC Chairs, Commissioners & other top officials in a petition we filed today with @protectdemocracy.org
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
November 13, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Government has no business policing media for viewpoint bias or balance. The FCC must repeal its news distortion policy, urges a bipartisan group of 11 former FCC Chairs, Commissioners & other top officials in a petition we filed today with @protectdemocracy.org
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
protectdemocracy.org/work/fcc-new...
Obviously
Perhaps most importantly, Trump still wants the filibuster gone, and what he demands of the GOP, he most often gets. www.thebulwark.com/p/senate-rep...
Nuking the Filibuster Is Still on the Menu
A deal to reopen government isn’t enough for Trump’s most loyal Senate Republicans.
www.thebulwark.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Obviously
Of course Senate Dems caved. It's a classic collective action problem. Political Science 101: the Administration will usually beat Congress, like any unified actor versus dozens of actors with their own divergent interests who struggle to coordinate. The problem is structural, not personal.
November 11, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Of course Senate Dems caved. It's a classic collective action problem. Political Science 101: the Administration will usually beat Congress, like any unified actor versus dozens of actors with their own divergent interests who struggle to coordinate. The problem is structural, not personal.
Strong Sturmabteilung (SA) vibes
No matter how fasc they seem, there's always Röhm for them to get much worse
No matter how fasc they seem, there's always Röhm for them to get much worse
New:
On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers
He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...
On The Gateway Pundit's podcast yesterday, Stewart Rhodes announced he's relaunching the Oath Keepers
He also urged Trump to “call us up as a militia" & "order us all to come together in our counties under his command."
www.mediamatters.org/oath-keepers...
![STEWART RHODES (FOUNDER, OATH KEEPERS): And one other thing I want to say is that President Trump, as commander in chief, always has absolute authority to call all of us up as the militia because every one of us — in federal statues defining the militia, it's every able-bodied male from age 17-45. And for us veterans, it goes up to age 64 because of our prior training and experience.
Right now, under federal statutes, President Trump can call us up as the militia if he sees it necessary, especially for three purposes: to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections, and to execute the laws of the union. And right now, we see all three of those in play.
...
And the militia is all of us. So the National Guard is part of the militia, which is why it's completely lawful for him to use the National Guard as he has, and he should do more of that, I think, across the country.
...
He could just say given the circumstances of an invasion, insurrection, and resistance against federal law being being enforced, I'm calling up the militia, ordering all the men to come together [in] every county, put the veterans in charge of training and organizing all the other men and just have them stand too and await his orders. He can do that and I think he should do that. And so that's what I'll be advocating for from him. So from the bottom, from down the rank and file, we can let President Trump know that we're ready to serve, encourage him to do that, call us up as a militia, order us all to come together in our counties under his command, which gives you complete legal sanction to do what you're doing.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:af7tqcetuyt352aolf3znlxe/bafkreialm4skuozqobejpd6vx4m6kuwsgtidxmmxvj3ftcff6otiuyohiy@jpeg)
November 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Strong Sturmabteilung (SA) vibes
No matter how fasc they seem, there's always Röhm for them to get much worse
No matter how fasc they seem, there's always Röhm for them to get much worse
CORRECTION: Trump only *gradually* instigated the attack on the Capitol over the course of months, told the crowd at the White House on Jan 6 to "walk down to the Capitol" and to "fight like hell," did nothing to stop them for hours as violence erupted, then told rioters how much he loved them
🇬🇧 The BBC is expected to apologise for editing a speech that suggested Donald Trump had directly instigated an attack on the US Capitol, resulting in the dramatic resignations of the broadcaster's top brass.
➡️ u.afp.com/Sni5
➡️ u.afp.com/Sni5
November 10, 2025 at 1:16 PM
CORRECTION: Trump only *gradually* instigated the attack on the Capitol over the course of months, told the crowd at the White House on Jan 6 to "walk down to the Capitol" and to "fight like hell," did nothing to stop them for hours as violence erupted, then told rioters how much he loved them