Kristi Noem is an enemy of free speech.
She expanded surveillance. She targeted reporters. And she labeled critics “domestic terrorists.”
Regardless of which Trump crony is nominated next, we’re calling on Congress to stop funding DHS.
A 🧵 >
"He who controls the media controls the minds of the public." - Noam Chomsky
We @freepress.bsky.social just released a statement condemning the ICE arrest and detention of Estefany Rodriguez and call for her immediate release. More coalition pressure coming in the hours and days ahead: www.freepress.net/news/free-pr...
Stay loud!
Urge the Senate to rescind funding for ICE — and oppose any new funding for the agency — before more innocent people are detained, more families are separated and more lives are lost.
ADD your name: www.freepress.net/get-involved...
"Dictatorships snuff out a free press to terrorize independent journalists and decimate the public’s ability to know what’s happening. Trump consistently targets our most vocal and vulnerable voices to do just that." - @attorneynora.bsky.social
More on the arrest of journalist Estefany Rodriguez:
DHS sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on ICE, officials and tech workers said.
More from @nytimes.com:
Kristi Noem is an enemy of free speech.
She expanded surveillance. She targeted reporters. And she labeled critics “domestic terrorists.”
Regardless of which Trump crony is nominated next, we’re calling on Congress to stop funding DHS.
A 🧵 >
Free Press condemns immigration officials for the targeting, arrest and detention of journalist Estefany Rodriguez, a reporter with Nashville Noticias.
ICE's targeting of Rodriguez is a violation of her First Amendment rights as a member of the media.
Our statement:
Nashville reporter's detention by federal immigration officials poses grave threat to press freedom and the public’s right to know. A thread on Estefany Rodriguez: www.freepress.net/news/free-pr...
We don’t yet know if Estefany Rodríguez’s detention was in retaliation for her reporting but we certainly wouldn’t be surprised.
ICE abductions of noncitizen journalists take the reporters best equipped to cover immigration enforcement off the beat.
Having worked for months on Mario Guevara’s case, I am worried but not surprised: the Trump admin has been courting lawless violations of due process & free speech since he entered office the first time. Worse than ever now. Cc @freepress.bsky.social @pressfreedom.bsky.social @freedom.press
Launch graphic for MediaJustice's NEW report, "Media Capture: Who Controls the Story Controls the Future." A tech oligarch hand reaches down, picking up a TV icon representing CNN to add to their collection. The hand is filled with rings emblematic of other media (CBS, TikTok, Paramount Skydance, and TIME) and bracelets (MGM Studios, The Atlantic, The Washington Post). Below the hand is a receipt machine printing a sales receipt for Paramount ($8B), Washington Post ($250M), Time ($190M), MGM Studios ($8.5B), and The Atlantic ($100M). Below is the report bitly link "bit.ly/mediacapturereport".
Today, we’re releasing our NEW #report, Media Capture: Who Controls the Story Controls the Future. 📱💥
#Media is NOT neutral. Our report maps how #Tech Oligarchs are capturing the media ecosystem through ownership, monetary power, and platform control.
bit.ly/mediacapturereport
Government agents are collecting unprecedented amounts of personal data with little-to-no oversight or accountability from Big Tech.
The ICE Out of Our Faces Act stops the use facial recognition and other biometric-surveillance technologies.
Learn more: pressingissues.org/ed-markey-wa...
Our Head of Programs, Jacinta González dives into how political donations have secured #Palantir's business model and how two representatives shut these bribes down. @denverpost.com
www.denverpost.com/2026/02/20/p...
"As we enter yet another war where too many innocent lives have already been lost, we’re no closer to having a media system that holds the powerful to account. But holding the line on further media consolidation is a critical step toward building one." - @jgo4justice.bsky.social
Trump's strategy to consolidate the media into the hands of right-wing oligarchs and to — as Steve Bannon would say — “flood the zone with shit" is straight out of the authoritarian playbook.
@jgo4justice.bsky.social's warning as we face another senseless war:
➡️ www.freepress.net/blog/warning...
Free Press co-CEO @jgo4justice.bsky.social joined Ian Masters of @ianmastersmedia.bsky.social to discuss how right wing Trump-friendly billionaires are buying up mainstream media.
Listen in: https://soundcloud.com/user-830442635/bbriefing_2026_03_01c_jessica-gonzalez-1
This merger pushes America's fragile news ecosystem further towards right-wing propaganda.
"Our democracy is endangered by giving a family of pliant billionaires even more control of our news coverage, TV stations, and movie studios." - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @the-ringer.bsky.social
"Rather than challenge a dictatorial regime, they’ve contributed tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s presidential campaign, inaugural ceremonies and other schemes, with execs regularly Lear-jetting to Mar-a-Lago to offer support and curry favor." - @timkarr.bsky.social in "Big Tech Goes to War"
⚠️ Beware of the military-technological complex.
Musk, Bezos, Google, & Musk send a clear message to Trump: Give us military and surveillance contracts and we'll help spread your authoritarian gospel to billions of people every day.
@timkarr.bsky.social explain:
www.freepress.net/blog/big-tec...
“Trump wants to control the news and his justice department has been largely purged of anyone who might ask too many questions of a deal like this.” - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @theguardian.com
We were joined by @jgo4justice.bsky.social, Co-CEO of @freepress.bsky.social, discussing how right wing Trump-friendly billionaires buying up the mainstream media. soundcloud.com/user-8304426...
Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is a grave threat to democracy — especially in a time of war.
More here:
https://www.freepress.net/blog/warning-about-media-consolidation-paramount-wbd-time-of-war
CHOKEHOLD examines the Trump administration’s hostile relationship with dissent and free expression in 2025, researched and written by Free Press' @attorneynora.bsky.social
“We took the freedom of speech away.” - President Trump in opening remarks at his “antifa roundtable” (October 2025)
“Trump wants to control the news and his justice department has been largely purged of anyone who might ask too many questions of a deal like this.” - @notaaroncraig.bsky.social via @theguardian.com
"Despite the inconsistent justifications, the throughline is clear: the Trump administration has set its sights on anyone monitoring its expanding immigration enforcement operations, and it’s turning to major tech companies to help." - @ruddock.bsky.social via @techpolicypress.bsky.social
"I don’t think most Americans realize how we got here.
I think about the 23 years since ICE and CBP were formed after 9/11, and how this raw recklessness always felt baked in. But now there's a boss approving and ignoring their blatant unconstitutionality." - @juliorvarela.com, Pressing Issues
History teaches us that a free press cannot exist under mass surveillance. Nor can free speech survive in a chokehold.
As @josephtorr.bsky.social says: Surveillance was never about safety. It's about maintaining social control in the service of white supremacy.
We've been here before. 🧵 >
“What appears to be the defining conflict of Trump’s presidency thus far is unfolding largely outside the sight of Western journalists.”
We @freepress.bsky.social @juliorvarela.com interviewed Raelyn Roberson, an amazing researcher and organizer, about how Grok is already prepping to mislead voters by sowing discord. pressingissues.org/groks-demons...
