NCAC has joined FIRE and other free expression organizations in filing an amicus brief in the case of Netchoice v. Fitch, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Mississippi H.B. 1126 under the First Amendment. This statute requires social media platforms to verify the age of all users and forbids platforms to permit minors to create accounts unless they have obtained consent [...]
NCAC has filed an amicus brief in the consolidated cases of NetChoice v. Paxton and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton, lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Texas HB 18 under the First Amendment. This statute restricts certain digital platforms from permitting users under the age of 18 to access content that is obscene as to minors or “promotes, glorifies, or facilitates” [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) is proud to join forces with 58 civil rights organizations, LGBTQ+ advocates, and free speech organizations in opposing harmful legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). For 50 years, NCAC has fought for the right to access uncensored information, and KOSA threatens to undermine that core freedom. KOSA risks silencing crucial online [...]
In a key legal filing last month, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), in collaboration with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and other free speech organizations, took a bold step in the ongoing battle for free speech. Together, they filed an Amicus Brief with the Supreme Court in Murthy v. Missouri, challenging government overreach and defending the [...]
Recent news reports have surfaced, revealing attempts by the Biden administration to pressure Amazon to censor controversial anti-vaccine books and search results. According to the reports, representatives of the Biden administration have urged Amazon executives to take action against books that the administration has deemed to contain misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and vaccines. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) condemns [...]
NEW YORK— Don’t Delete Art (DDA)—a collaborative initiative uniting advocacy groups and artists in the defense of artistic freedom online—held A Day of Action today in New York City and online. The actions are an extension of the group’s Manifesto campaign, which urges social media companies to integrate artistic perspectives into content moderation policies. The day's activities are documented [...]
NEW YORK – Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC), which represents 59 education, publishing, religious and arts organizations and Don’t Delete Art (DDA), a project of NCAC and several other organizations and artists, joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and over 50 other organizations and institutions in supporting Protect the Stack, a statement calling on internet infrastructure providers not [...]
Companies providing core internet infrastructures—including internet service providers, website host companies, payment processors, and more—rarely have substantial contact with their users, user-generated content, or user activities. And, even though they typically lack expertise, authority, resources, and policies to regulate user content with consistency, many online infrastructure companies do just that. The result has severely restricted free speech on the internet, [...]
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression have cowritten a letter to the Pennridge School District in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, demanding changes to a proposed policy that would unconstitutionally restrict the communications that students can distribute both on and off school grounds. The proposed policy is shockingly broad and impermissibly vague. If implemented it [...]
NCAC asks PBS for a policy change after it removed from its national website an LGBTQ+ children's program featuring a drag queen.
On June 2, 2021, artists Dina Brodsky, Savannah Spirit, and Spencer Tunick hosted a conversation to share advice on how to tag, contextualize, or modify artwork on Instagram so as to improve its chances of not being removed. The webinar is part of Don't Delete Art, a gallery, resource center and campaign advocating for artistic freedom on social media. [...]
Instagram censored a post by Dread Scott showing his artwork "White people can't be trusted with power" for violating their hate speech policy.
Artists and advocates have created the first comprehensive resource for artists to avoid and combat censorship on social media.
Several recent rulings from Facebook’s Oversight Board push Facebook to show greater respect for principles of free expression in its content moderation decisions.
In a case seen as a test of whether text-only fiction can be considered legally obscene, the host of erotic fiction archive Mr Double faces seven obscenity charges.
NCAC is deeply concerned by Zoom, Facebook and YouTube's recent censorship of an academic forum due to the affiliation of one of the speakers with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The EARN IT Act threatens free expression, jeopardizes the security of our communications and risks undermining child abuse prosecutions.
NCAC has joined a coalition of two dozen organizations calling on Congressional leaders not to reauthorize several expired provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities by adding them as amendments to a must-pass appropriations bill or other emergency legislation. In a letter sent to Congress on September 14, NCAC and the other organizations argue that these controversial measures [...]
On June 15, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), and PEN America joined in protesting Zoom’s decision to close the account of Humanitarian China, a U.S.-based nonprofit that promotes the development of human rights in China. Zoom acted at the request of Chinese officials who wanted to suppress a virtual meeting commemorating the [...]
Rhetorically framed as defense of free speech, the President’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, is exactly the opposite: an attempt to intimidate social media platforms into yielding to the president’s views of what speech should be allowed online. While we agree that social media platforms “function in many ways as a 21st-century equivalent of the public square” and share [...]
As misinformation proliferates, protests escalate, and the 2020 U.S. presidential election looms, how much should social media companies regulate the content on their platforms? Rules and regulations are changing as social media giants are figuring out how to wield their unprecedented power over information. As an organization committed to free expression, we welcome efforts to provide more information, alternative sources [...]
NCAC has joined a coalition of more than 50 civil liberties, civil rights and government transparency organizations in urging Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress to include civil liberties reforms in the USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, a bill that would extend surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act which expired in March. The coalition’s [...]
Developments in the United States could threaten our civil liberties as responses to the coronavirus pandemic test governments and social structures worldwide.
NCAC urges Facebook to resist government pressure to end its use of end-to-end security encryption.
This school year we want you to be prepared to defend your right to speak, think and create.
Facebook’s policy team has committed to convening a group of stakeholders to consider a new approach to nudity guidelines.
NCAC and artist Spencer Tunick created a nude art action in front of Facebook and Instagram's New York City headquarters as part of their #WeTheNipple campaign against art censorship on social media.
While the bill's sponsors contend that it aims to stop sex trafficking, the bill does not help sex trafficking victims confront their abusers but does significantly curtail online speech.
On Thursday, NCAC joined with more than 30 press freedom, civil liberties and open government groups, led by Free Press, in submitting a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai. The letter urges Pai to cancel a vote scheduled for December 14, 2017 that will likely reverse net neutrality protections instated in 2015. Read the full letter below; [...]
The bill risks eviscerating online free speech protections for websites that host large amounts of user-generated content.
On July 12th, NCAC is taking part in the Battle for the Net, which is shaping up to the largest mobilization of internet users ever.
NCAC is one of 28 signatories on a letter sent by the Center for Democracy & Technology to the DHS urging the rejection of a proposal to ask foreign travelers about their social media presence.
NPR has announced it will remove the comments section from its website. But what are the implications for freedom of speech?
Buzzfeed today reported Twitter's ex-CEO oversaw moderation of President Obama's and Caitlyn Jenner's Q & As, prompting questions of selective political bias of the site.
After the death of Philando Castile, Facebook delineated it's policy on posts containing violence. It should do the same for all content deemed controversial.
A court has ruled against Internet providers looking to change the legal classification of internet service, which would have allowed bigger domain names to purchase faster connection speeds.
In the wake of the Orlando shooting, Reddit came under fire for censoring its user's content. How fair is this accusation?
A proposed change to the "notice and takedown" internet copyright procedure potentially threatens freedom of expression online.
Reports out this week claiming that the social media giant selectively removes conservative news items from #trending topics has drawn accusations of censorship, most distressingly from a member of Congress charged with oversight of issues relating to technology, communications and the Internet.
Calls to ban social media platforms to combat campus discrimination threaten students' free speech rights.
