Topic hub
Who gets into the room: accreditation, Online News Act fallout, libel risk, and the gap between legacy outlets and independents.
Also browse related tags: #free-speech, #media, #independent-media, #Press-Gallery, #Online-News-Act, #QCJO
Accountability|Canada
Accreditation fights, subsidy asymmetry, platform rules, and libel pressure shape who gets heard — then a verified directory of independent Canadian outlets and reporters with working links.
Accountability|Canada
Benita Pedersen faces days of AHRC hearings over a 2023 flyer opposing a rainbow crosswalk. JCCF is defending; Rebel News is pushing a Scrap Section 3 campaign with a Hwy 2 billboard and a UCP convention petition.
Accountability|Canada
A Calgary chambers hearing pushed Rebel News’s mandamus application toward an expedited schedule before the 19 October referendum — a process fight over third-party money reports, not a ruling on the ballot questions. Update (3 Oct): Elections Alberta’s 29 September compliance agreement with Forever Canadian is a reporting split, not a fine.
Accountability|United States
In NetChoice v. Attorney General of Georgia (No. 25-12436, filed 15 October 2026), a three-judge panel held that NetChoice failed its facial First Amendment burden under Moody, and failed on vagueness and § 230 preemption. The panel vacated the Northern District of Georgia’s preliminary injunction against SB 351 and remanded. The law’s age checks, parental consent under 16, and minor-ad targeting limits can be enforced while the case continues.
Accountability|European Union
In mid-September 2026 Meta served an appeal against Ofcom’s Category 1 designation of Instagram and WhatsApp under the UK Online Safety Act — joining a wave of platform challenges Ofcom told Lords peers it faces in a “highly litigious environment.”
Accountability|United States
A Southern District of California order dated 14 September 2026 approved a $175,000 settlement in S.E. v. Grey, vacated the May 2025 preliminary injunction, and dismissed the case with prejudice — after Encinitas Union School District had already rewritten notice-and-opt-out rules in the shadow of Mahmoud v. Taylor.
Policy Watch|Canada
Bill C-63’s Online Harms package died with the last Parliament. Bill C-34 (Safe Social Media Act) got first reading on 10 June 2026 — a Digital Safety Act and Commission, not a re-enacted hate-tribunal clone until the text says so.
Accountability|European Union
On 5 December 2025 the European Commission issued the first Digital Services Act non-compliance fine: €120 million on X for blue-check, ad-repository, and researcher-access breaches. Meta and TikTok face preliminary findings — not yet final fines.
Accountability|United States
California’s new immigration-worker privacy law was written after a viral fraud hunter showed up. FIRE warned it chills speech. Shirley’s lawyers say that’s the point.
Accountability|United States
New Hampshire officials called pink “XX” bands “hateful.” The First Circuit called punishing them viewpoint discrimination — and sent the case back.
