Hawaii To Pay Up After Trying to Criminalize Political Memes
May 23, 2026
Hawaii’s taxpayers now owe six figures because their state tried to make certain memes illegal.
Hawaii’s taxpayers now owe six figures because their state tried to make certain memes illegal.
A shorebird biologist’s firing over a private Instagram post turned into one of the sharpest federal tests of government employee speech rights in years.
A bill sold as child protection builds the legal framework for surveilling every user in the state.
The incoming Ofcom chair’s to-do list includes treating VPNs as obstacles, demanding new powers over YouTube, and asking the Treasury for a bigger budget.
The architect of Germany’s original internet censorship law now wants the whole continent to stop worrying and learn to love the delete button.
Apple and Google would become the state-appointed gatekeepers of every Coloradan’s age data and their lobbyists are pushing hard for the privilege.
Six years later, the legal vacuum that made domestic surveillance possible hasn’t moved an inch.
The platform that once called Ofcom’s approach “overreach” just handed it a 48-hour content removal pipeline with quarterly audits.
The law Parliament sold as a shield for children just became a sword against a political campaign.
Your chant at a march is now judged not by the crowd around you but by how a stranger might feel watching a clip of it online.
The British speech regulator proved it doesn’t understand the internet.
Britain’s civil liberties are eroding one deployment at a time.
The people who spent years building blacklists to silence others are now shocked to find themselves on one.
The law Congress unanimously passed to fight revenge porn also handed anyone with an internet connection and a grudge a delete button.
A check and a written confession make this the first time the government has paid an American for coercing a social media company into censorship.
The government built a press pass out of a tax form and the prime minister’s office helped decide who got one.
Every major speaker at the Copenhagen summit has a resume built on telling platforms what to take down.
Every AI company’s nightmare scenario just became a plaintiff’s attorney’s blueprint for court-ordered mass surveillance.
The US government is using a 96-year-old customs fraud statute to hunt down a Canadian over tweets.
The company that could most credibly challenge Britain’s online speech regime is instead asking a London court to please use a different revenue column.
The investigation started with an algorithm complaint from a Macron ally and now includes charges ranging from Holocaust denial to child exploitation.
The Commission now employs 127 people to police online speech and is hiring 60 more, all without a single courtroom in the loop.
A single state judge is being asked to build the surveillance infrastructure that Congress won’t vote on and he already sounds skeptical.
Parliament will not say what’s in the database, only that it sorts your posts by tone.
Hawaii’s taxpayers now owe six figures because their state tried to make certain memes illegal.
A shorebird biologist’s firing over a private Instagram post turned into one of the sharpest federal tests of government employee speech rights in years.
A bill sold as child protection builds the legal framework for surveilling every user in the state.
The incoming Ofcom chair’s to-do list includes treating VPNs as obstacles, demanding new powers over YouTube, and asking the Treasury for a bigger budget.
The architect of Germany’s original internet censorship law now wants the whole continent to stop worrying and learn to love the delete button.
Apple and Google would become the state-appointed gatekeepers of every Coloradan’s age data and their lobbyists are pushing hard for the privilege.
Six years later, the legal vacuum that made domestic surveillance possible hasn’t moved an inch.
The platform that once called Ofcom’s approach “overreach” just handed it a 48-hour content removal pipeline with quarterly audits.
The law Parliament sold as a shield for children just became a sword against a political campaign.
Your chant at a march is now judged not by the crowd around you but by how a stranger might feel watching a clip of it online.
The British speech regulator proved it doesn’t understand the internet.
Britain’s civil liberties are eroding one deployment at a time.
The people who spent years building blacklists to silence others are now shocked to find themselves on one.
The law Congress unanimously passed to fight revenge porn also handed anyone with an internet connection and a grudge a delete button.
A check and a written confession make this the first time the government has paid an American for coercing a social media company into censorship.
The government built a press pass out of a tax form and the prime minister’s office helped decide who got one.
Every major speaker at the Copenhagen summit has a resume built on telling platforms what to take down.
Every AI company’s nightmare scenario just became a plaintiff’s attorney’s blueprint for court-ordered mass surveillance.
The US government is using a 96-year-old customs fraud statute to hunt down a Canadian over tweets.
The company that could most credibly challenge Britain’s online speech regime is instead asking a London court to please use a different revenue column.
The investigation started with an algorithm complaint from a Macron ally and now includes charges ranging from Holocaust denial to child exploitation.
The Commission now employs 127 people to police online speech and is hiring 60 more, all without a single courtroom in the loop.
A single state judge is being asked to build the surveillance infrastructure that Congress won’t vote on and he already sounds skeptical.
Parliament will not say what’s in the database, only that it sorts your posts by tone.