Government & Communications

In the fight over the license renewals of eight Disney-owned ABC television stations, the Media Action Center and Frequency Forward filed a Petition to Deny at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The petition demands that the FCC grant Disney's renewal applications immediately, but warns that if Disney agrees to restrict its speech or editorial independence to secure those renewals, the groups will seek license revocation.

ABC is taking its fight with the government to its own airwaves. The Disney-owned broadcast network launched an on-air campaign urging viewers to weigh in against the Federal Communications Commission’s early review of its broadcast licenses and a separate investigation of its daily talk show “The View.” The FCC has said the license review is tied to an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, while its probe into “The View” centers on whether the show violated so-called equal-time rules for politicians.

The Trump administration entered office promising to get government out of the 

Illinoisans now will have access to a large collection of high-quality digital information and educational resources for free by going to their local library or the Illinois State Library’s website. The Illinois Reliable Information Sources, or IRIS, program was announced by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. The state entered a contract with EBSCO Information Services—a digital library resource program used by universities, schools and libraries—to provide access to more than 50 of their databases to all Illinois residents.

Anthropic said that the U.S. government had ordered the company to suspend access for all foreign nationals to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 artificial intelligence models, citing national security ​concerns. The company revealed the order in a social media post, saying that it “must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.” Foreign nationals who work for Anthropic are also affected by the suspension.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and colleagues are sounding the alarm to President Donald Trump and Senate Republican Leader John Thune over the administration's concerted efforts to undermine the autonomy of independent agencies, citing the removal of Democratic leaders and the administration's refusal to nominate Democratic replacements to bipartisan leadership positions as required by statute. They write, "Congress designed these boards and commissions to be bipartisan and gave them the authority to regulate some of the most vital and significant parts of American life.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Justice Against Weaponized Bureaucratic Overreach to Networked Expression Act Act, legislation to hold the government accountable for censorship and violations of the First Amendment. Jawboning occurs when the government pressures private companies to censor speech protected by the First Amendment. Americans face significant hurdles in proving these violations.

Days after the U.S. presidential election in November 2024, then-Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr posted a photo of himself with Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump at a SpaceX rocket launch. “A historic day at Starbase,” Commissioner Carr wrote in the post, referring to the Texas headquarters of Mr. Musk’s rocket and satellite company. “Another giant leap forward.” Around the same time, Mr. Musk recommended Commissioner Carr to President Trump as an ideal leader for the agency.

President Donald Trump has gotten involved in regulatory decisions big and small that once were made by independent agencies, dramatically shifting the balance of power across Washington and reordering how influence campaigns are waged. Political appointees by nature tend to be closely aligned with the president’s worldview. But former agency officials across administrations say it is highly unusual for presidents to be so intimately involved in the details of regulatory reviews.

In a freewheeling first year in office, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one of President Trump’s most influential deputies, has used the power of the federal government in unorthodox and aggressive ways. Some of his tactics have been creative. Others were blunt-force.