Jason Kint

Opinion | Politicians Are Trying to Control the News The rising global attacks on the free press reveal increasingly desperate regimes attempting to snuff out attempts to find the truth.

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

“By trying to silence journalists, autocrats and aspiring autocrats hope to make the world ignore what they are doing. The rest of us should refuse to do so,” the editorial board writes.

ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.

They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

Google’s lead proxy for years in company relations to the news industry (Richard Gingras) has regularly made this point, too suggesting news has zero value. It’s absurd on its face and quite offensive for someone who has made his entire career at Google about being supportive of news.

Hey NZ & RNZ’s Mediawatch, if you’re following @kint.bsky.social I highly recommend him media analysis.

Case in point below— Canada’s news bargaining with the tech giants is working :)

Bold, Meta. As I read this, Meta is arguing in a court of law that its use of BitTorrent to transfer pirated works was Fair Use because it helped them be more efficient in doing it.

"...these frameworks keep the government out of the business of picking the winners and losers in the press...not through political discretion.

That safeguard is not theoretical. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom curtailed funding for a similar measure after it passed into law"

THIS IS WINNING!!

Goals scored: Canada proved news bargaining works The Olympic hockey gold medals were both determined by bruising 2-1 overtime games. Both between the United States and

Wrote this last night as Meta was going on 🇨🇦 TV and misleading public on what is arguably one of the most successful acts of any parliament to bring funding to a free and plural press. It’s working, just not for Meta whose biz doesnt like to pay for “data.” digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2026/02...

That’s the entire point. Google is an adjudged illegal monopoly with 93% of search market. It’s not a business reality that a publisher can actually block its bots and opt not to participate in its scheme of scraping pages, user data/clicks in return for traffic and AI Overviews training.

You keep introducing false information to this thread. Not sure why. Only Google and Meta fall under the act, due to their market power, so GenAI adding links doesn’t trigger some sort of payment for anyone else. And the suggestion of no benefits ignores $100 million per year - see my column.

Show me this language that was actually passed into law. Wikipedia was never anywhere near being a platform with bargaining power imbalance as Google and Facebook were… at least not in any parliament I track close enough. Thx.

Not actually. Again that’s what the lobby said. Technically it just used links as part of the description of the role of a gatekeeper, at least until Google decided to substitute that traffic with its over GenAI trained on those very pubs by tying to its illegal monopoly.

ps read the piece. It’s actually working in Canada. It’s law. They were wrong, and their lobby was paid to support their losing cause.

Why would you call it a “link tax?” That’s the exact term the Google/Facebook lobbyplex worked to label it. It’s not a tax ($ goes in deals between private companies) and it’s not based on clicks or links. It’s a stick and carrot to do deals when one side has an imbalance in bargaining power.

Confession: I predicted last year that Judge Brinkema in Eastern District of Virginia would issue her remedies opinion by end of February in U.S. v Google. To force divestiture. That’s in the next 24 hours. Polymarket has my odds super low. Alas.

Goals scored: Canada proved news bargaining works The Olympic hockey gold medals were both determined by bruising 2-1 overtime games. Both between the United States and

Wrote this last night as Meta was going on 🇨🇦 TV and misleading public on what is arguably one of the most successful acts of any parliament to bring funding to a free and plural press. It’s working, just not for Meta whose biz doesnt like to pay for “data.” digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2026/02...

When you put it that way, Renee.

Confession: I predicted last year that Judge Brinkema in Eastern District of Virginia would issue her remedies opinion by end of February in U.S. v Google. To force divestiture. That’s in the next 24 hours. Polymarket has my odds super low. Alas.

watch this space. especially if discovery opens back up. 9th already sent it back down to district, here we go.

sorry been away from here - been locked out. Blame yet another hierarchical officious oracle. if you get that, you’re old school internet. Anyway, I’m back. If I could port my X followers here, I’d be more active.

Exactly.

"European journalism and democracy are at stake."

>70 press freedom orgs, businesses, think tanks, urging
@vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu and @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu
to reject Google’s bid to keep its monopoly grip on Europe's €120bn adtech market--and break it up.

rebalance-now.de/wp-content/u...

Meta used National PTA to promote child safety efforts, report finds A report alleges the National PTA's relationship with Meta "gives a sheen of expert approval" to the company's "efforts to keep young users" on its platforms.

🧾 ICYMI: Another example of Big Tech co-opting the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to launder their talking points, and whitewash the damage Meta and TikTok products are causing to a generation of children and teens.
www.cnbc.com/2025/08/26/...

And here's a new entry from MEP @alexandrageese.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/just...

Important PSA from incoming NYC mayor.

The EU’s Fine Against X is Not About Speech or ‘Censorship’ | TechPolicy.Press The €120 million fine under the Digital Services Act is just the EU enforcing some normal, boring requirements of its law, writes Stanford's Daphne Keller.

3/ Don't let anyone — not even the US Secretary of State — tell you that the European Commission's €120 million enforcement against Elon Musk’s X under the Digital Service Act is about censorship, writes Daphne Keller. It’s just the EU enforcing some normal, boring requirements of its law, she says.

Brussels Fines Musk’s X €120M, Firing Shot in Transatlantic Tech Showdown

🧵 of reporting and perspective on @techpolicypress.bsky.social today on the EU's enforcement action against Elon Musk’s X, with items from @ramshajahangir.bsky.social, @dwj88.bsky.social, @viacristiano.bsky.social, and @daphnek.bsky.social.

Scene after Russian strike on Ukrainian bus was all "mud, dust, blood, crying and bodies," prosecutor says Ukrainians live in fear of Russian attacks. In one of the war's deadliest attacks, a missile destroyed a city bus in Sumy traveling between a university, the mall and the airport.

Russia's bombardment of Ukrainian cities is relentless as Vladimir Putin tries to plunge civilians into a winter of cold and darkness. cbsn.ws/48BMIST

United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit This is the official YouTube Channel for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. For more information regarding the Court's oral arguments, please visit our web site.

The DC Court of Appeals streams the arguments live. Today’s session starts at 9:30am. Please share with friends. #HoldTheLine #DefendPressFreedom 3/3 www.youtube.com/@USCourtsCAD...

AP is back in Court 9:30a. Describing the threats as “more evident since we first took this case to court.”

“All this makes it as important as it has ever been to be clear about the role of the press in a democracy and what exactly is at stake.” 2/3 apnews.com/article/asso...