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.
Was Reddit's decision to ban 5 discussion groups a business decision, or a move away from its free speech principles?
A California mayor is responding to a vocal critic by attempting to use a questionable copyright claim as a censorship tool.
Students at a Pennsylvania high school are told by local police that what they tweet could be a crime.
Two more examples of the social media giant's rather peculiar standards about female nudity.
No, senator, you cannot remove a book from the internet.
One of the most prevalent types of censorship today is solely web-based. The Chinese government's online blockade called the "Great Firewall" is one of the most famous examples. Usually acting out of what it considers defensive purposes, the "Great Firewall" operators have recently taken on a more offensive role that affects both China and the rest of the world: Cyber attacks [...]
Congressional efforts to punish online sex trafficking are overbroad, counterproductive and will chill free speech.
And I’m not talking about the frosty weather hitting New York City this week. A new report by NCAC coalition member PEN American Center, “Global Chilling: The Impact of Mass Surveillance on International Writers” finds that government surveillance in democratic countries is chilling free speech, driving novelists, editors, poets, and journalists to self-censor their work. The numbers are particularly frightening: 75% [...]
(Update: NCAC signed on to another letter in January 2015 organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology.) NCAC and other organizations concerned with human rights sent the below letter to the Unites States Senate to convey strong opposition to S.2536, the "Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation" (SAVE) Act. While we believe that Congress should provide additional funding for victims [...]
Late in September, in observance of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s 13 Necessary and Proportionate Principles on Surveillance, NCAC noted thematic links between the NSA’s far-reaching surveillance tactics and those of public schools in the country. There, we observed that the underlying impulses behind surveillance on the national level and on the local level were uniform. This need to monitor and [...]
