Federal regulators on Thursday launched a probe into leftist “watchdog” Media Matters over reports that it illegally coordinated advertiser boycotts against Elon Musk&#8217;s X platform.
Media Matters for America, a non-profit <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leaked-media-matters-donor-list-reveal-it-is-funded-by-democrat-mega-donors?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Leaked+Media+Matters+Donor+List+Reveal+It+Is+Funded+By+Democrat+Mega+Donors">funded</a> by various leftist institutions and billionaires, <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/soros-donates-1-million-to-media-matters/">including</a> George Soros, has had the mission to deplatform and drive advertisers away from conservative voices since it was founded in 2004.
The Federal Trade Commission demanded documents regarding Media Matters&#8217; communications with similar “watchdogs” dedicated to labeling conservative content as hate speech and misinformation.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, appointed by President Donald Trump, signaled potential action in December, stating the agency &#8220;must prosecute any unlawful collusion between online platforms, and confront advertiser boycotts which threaten competition,&#8221; Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/ftc-probes-media-matters-over-musks-x-boycott-claims-document-shows-2025-05-22/">reported</a>.
Musk’s X sued Media Matters in 2023 after the liberal group published an article <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-to-file-thermonuclear-suit-against-media-matters-over-contrived-story-on-x?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Elon+Musk+To+File+%E2%80%98Thermonuclear%E2%80%99+Suit+Against+Media+Matters+Over+%E2%80%98Contrived%E2%80%99+Story+On+X">claiming</a> that X was placing ads for major corporations such as Apple, Disney, and Comcast alongside Nazi-related content.
A press release from Musk at the time said that the Media Matters story “completely misrepresented the real user experience on X, in another attempt to undermine freedom of speech and mislead advertisers.”
Musk accused the group of creating a “contrived” experience by using an alternate account to curate what posts appeared on the timeline.
In fact, according to Musk, X logs indicated that of the 5.5 billion ad impressions the day Media Matters pulled its research from, less than 50 were served alongside the content highlighted by Media Matters.
“Despite our clear and consistent position, X has seen a number of attacks from activist groups like Media Matters and legacy media outlets who seek to undermine freedom of expression on our platform because they perceive it as a threat to their ideological narrative and those of their financial supporters,” Musk’s release said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company <a href="https://t.co/55vl7PspaQ">pic.twitter.com/55vl7PspaQ</a>
— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1725771191644758037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Attorneys representing X <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/ftc-launches-probe-far-left-group-media-matters-over-allegations-advertiser-collusion-against-musks-x">described</a> the report as &#8220;intentionally deceptive&#8221; as a means to cause the company financial harm.
Media Matters has denied these allegations and countersued X.
In a similar case, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and several other brands for participating in an illegal conspiracy to curtail ad spending on X, the lawsuit states, per the New York Post.
The plaintiffs denied Musk’s accusations, arguing that each individual brand had concerns with X’s policies that led to their suspension of advertising.
The FTC&#8217;s demand represents a significant escalation in the case of Media Matters, shifting the dispute from civil litigation to potential government enforcement action.
Musk, a major contributor to Trump&#8217;s 2024 campaign and head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative, has seen advertising on X decline since his 2022 acquisition, with Apple and IBM immediately pausing all ads on X following the 2023 Media Matters <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle">article</a>.
However, research firm Emarketer projects spending will increase in 2025, per Reuters.
Since taking over Twitter in 2022, Musk has made sweeping changes to content moderation policies, reinstated previously banned accounts, and introduced a paid verification system. The billionaire has frequently criticized what he characterizes as a &#8220;woke mind virus&#8221; affecting media and technology companies.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP-CABINET

Feds Probe Media Matters Over Plot To Defund Musk’s X, Silence Dissenting Voices

Big Tech

Censorship

Elon Musk

Free Speech

Media Matters For America

Trump Administration

Twitter

U.S.

President Trump’s Tariffs On Aluminum Imports Impact Price Of Beverage Makers’ Aluminum Cans

Paid-Off ‘Conservatives’ Are Fighting For Your Right To Use Food Stamps For Soda

Paid-Off 'Conservatives' Are Fighting For Your Right To Use Food Stamps For Soda

Coca-Cola

Conservatives

Department of Health and Human Services

Food

Food Stamps

Matt Walsh

Opinion

President Trump

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Taking a page out of X’s book, Meta <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2025/03/testing-begins-community-notes-facebook-instagram-threads/">announced</a> on Thursday that it would start testing Community Notes on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in the United States on March 18.
Meta offered implied criticism of “third-party” fact checkers, on whom it had heretofore relied, writing, “We expect Community Notes to be less biased than the third party fact checking program it replaces because it allows more people with more perspectives to add context to posts.”
Meta <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2025/01/meta-more-speech-fewer-mistakes/">announced</a> in January it would move to a community notes-based approach, stating, “Starting in the US, we are ending our third party fact-checking program and moving to a Community Notes model. We will allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse and focusing our enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations. We will take a more personalized approach to political content, so that people who want to see more of it in their feeds can.”
“Notes won’t initially appear on content,” Meta warned. “We will start by gradually and randomly admitting people off of the waitlist, and will take time to test the writing and rating system before any notes are published publicly.”
Meta acknowledged its debt to X, explaining, “Many of you will be familiar with X’s Community Notes system, in which users add context to posts. That’s the broad approach we are adopting. &#8230; Initially we will use X’s open source algorithm as the basis of our rating system. This will allow us to build on what X has created and improve it for our own platforms over time.”
Meta stated it would guard against bias in the notes by ensuring the notes would not be published unless “contributors with a range of viewpoints broadly agree on them. This isn’t majority rules. No matter how many contributors agree on a note, it won’t be published unless people who normally disagree decide that it provides helpful context.”
The notes are limited to 500 characters and require a link to support them. Contributors must be over 18 with an “account that’s more than 6 months old and in good standing, and either have a verified phone number or be enrolled in two-factor authentication.”

American Social Media And IT Companies Photo Illustrations

Meta Follows X, Will Start Testing Community Notes On Facebook And Instagram Next Week

Community Notes

Facebook

Fact Check

Instagram

Media

Social Media

World

A movement has burgeoned among Reddit users to ban links to X, formerly known as Twitter, and Reddit has no plans to interfere with such actions.
“Since Tuesday, hundreds of subreddits have discussed and/or implemented bans against the site formerly called Twitter, as reported by 404 Media,” Ars Technica <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/reddit-wont-interfere-with-users-revolting-against-x-with-subreddit-bans/">reported</a>. “Reddit users in support of X bans like the one instituted by r/londonontario have pointed to various reasoning, including not being able to see tweet links without having an X account, Elon Musk appearing to make a Nazi salute at the presidential inauguration on Monday (as cited by r/Christianity’s and r/newjersey&#8217;s bans, for example), and general dislike for Musk and/or how he runs X.”
“NBC News has identified more than 50 subreddit communities where moderators have since announced that links from X, formerly Twitter, will no longer be allowed in new posts and comments. The communities protesting range in size from dozens of members to millions, totaling at least 40 million members,” NBC News<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/50-reddit-communities-ban-x-links-protest-musk-rcna188719" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> reported</a> on Wednesday. “Not allowing links to X in large subreddits could be a major way to suppress Musk’s platform’s reach when it comes to the communities on Reddit that are taking part.”
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Musk’s motion at the presidential inauguration has been mischaracterized by members of the Left, the media, and among Democrats as a Nazi salute when it was nothing of the kind; he was making a motion from his heart toward the crowd to show his appreciation.
“A Reddit spokesperson told Ars that decisions to ban or not ban X links are user-driven. Subreddit members are allowed to suggest and institute subreddit rules, they added,” Ars Technica stated. “Reddit has a longstanding commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of association,” the spokesperson added.
“As 404 Media noted, some Redditors are also pushing to block content from Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta properties in response to new Donald Trump-friendly policies instituted by owner Mark Zuckerberg, like Meta killing diversity programs and axing third-party fact-checkers,” Ars Technica noted.

In this photo illustration, the Reddit logo is seen

Reddit Has No Plans To Stop Users From Banning Links To X

Reddit

Technology

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/rob-reiner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob Reiner</a> said he’s checking into a facility to find “peace and relaxation” after he left X for the Bluesky social media platform following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
In a series of posts on Wednesday on <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:abhklfdwf5hfnjachaad5ugk/post/3lbgl4jfvsc2k?ref_src=embed&amp;ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.thewrap.com%252Frob-reiner-bluesky-maga-scum%252F">Bluesky</a>, the 77-year-old director accused what he called “MAGA scum” of coming over to the platform and ruining it after he and other Hollywood stars announced they had left Elon Musk’s X for the platform after Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris, <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/rob-reiner-bluesky-maga-scum/">the Wrap</a> reported.
“This platform is vile, racist and evil,” Reiner wrote. “It did not take long for MAGA scum to come spread their lies.”
“I have made the decision to take the next few days to check into a facility for peace and relaxation,” he <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:abhklfdwf5hfnjachaad5ugk/post/3lbgpvwshl22e?ref_src=embed&amp;ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.thewrap.com%252Frob-reiner-bluesky-maga-scum%252F">added</a> in a second post a short time later. “No phones, social media , no trolls, just calmness to heal my pain.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
After Trump&#8217;s victory in the 2024 election, some leftist celebrities are leaving the country.<a href="https://twitter.com/robreiner?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RobReiner</a> is checking into a nuthouse. <a href="https://t.co/v6ZFbDNXrp">pic.twitter.com/v6ZFbDNXrp</a>
— Matt Margolis (@mattmargolis) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattmargolis/status/1859606787789353308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2024</a></blockquote>
Following the election, Reiner had celebrated making his new move to the platform after Trump won both the Electoral College and popular vote.
“I have decided to move here for a less hateful experience,” Reiner&#8217;s post read at the time.
The platform has seen a bump in users with many celebrities and members of the legacy media announcing their grand departure from X over Musk’s support of Trump in the election.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/msnbc-host-joy-reid-becomes-latest-lib-to-quit-x-following-trumps-triumph">MSNBC’s Joy Reid</a> recently wrote, “Hey guys, today I did something I&#8217;ve been meaning to do for a while. And the reason for doing it, and kissing goodbye to my 1.9 million followers over there. I hadn&#8217;t been posting for a long time &#8211; I just didn&#8217;t want to contribute content once it was purchased by its present owner,&#8221; as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/msnbc-host-joy-reid-becomes-latest-lib-to-quit-x-following-trumps-triumph" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“But, just having it there &#8211; I was only holding onto it because, I, you know, really didn&#8217;t want someone trying to take over that name and use it for nefarious purposes,” she added. “I was a little bit worried about that.”
“And also, every so often, I was just using it to look at news that was trending, what&#8217;s happening, and I just sort of used it as an aggregator,” Reid continued. “But I just realized it&#8217;s not really worth it. Because in order to do the news aggregation and just look at all, you have to wade through a lot of dreck and a lot of, just, abuse, and a lot of just, negativity. And it&#8217;s just not worth it.”
Former <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/don-lemon-jamie-lee-curtis-announce-they-are-leaving-x-following-trump-victory">CNN host Don Lemon</a> and actress Jamie Lee Curtis also made the announcement about leaving X after the election.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/don-lemon">Lemon</a> claimed it’s no longer a place for “honest” debate after Trump won and wrote that he has “loved connecting with all of you on Twitter and then on X for all of these years, but it’s time for me to leave the platform.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/don-lemon-jamie-lee-curtis-announce-they-are-leaving-x-following-trump-victory">The Hollywood actress</a> joined him in announcing on Instagram that she had left the X platform, without giving a specific reason why she made the decision, following Trump’s victory.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” Curtis wrote on Instagram. “Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.”

24th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival – Day Three

Rob Reiner Says He’s Checking Into Facility To Find ‘Peace’ After Leaving X For Bluesky

Rob Reiner Says He’s Checking Into Facility To Find 'Peace' After Leaving X For Bluesky

Celebrities

Donald Trump

Entertainment

Hollywood

Rob Reiner

Former CNN host <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/don-lemon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Don Lemon</a> said the time has come to leave social media platform X as he claimed it’s no longer a place for “honest” debate after President-elect Donald Trump won, with the support of X owner <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>.
In two now-viral <a href="https://x.com/donlemon/status/1856726456438546501">posts</a> he made on Wednesday, Lemon wrote and then said in a video that he has “loved connecting with all of you on Twitter and then on X for all of these years, but it’s time for me to leave the platform.”
“I once believed that it was a place for honest debate and discussion, transparency and free speech, but I now feel it does not serve that purpose,” he added, without explaining further.
He then pointed to changes in terms and services on X that will become effective on November 15, which <a href="https://x.com/en/tos">states that</a> “all disputes related to These terms or the Services” that arise between users and X as a company “shall be brought exclusively in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, or state courts located in Tarrant County, Texas…”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
My statement on leaving Twitter <a href="https://t.co/9tYcfqHhhC">pic.twitter.com/9tYcfqHhhC</a>
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) <a href="https://twitter.com/donlemon/status/1856726456438546501?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
Lemon claimed that these new terms put all disputes on the platform “in courthouses that are a hub for conservatives, which experts say could make it easier for X to shield itself from litigation and punish critics.”
“I think that speaks for itself,” Lemon wrote, pointing to where followers could find his content like YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, etc.
Hollywood star <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/jamie-lee-curtis-quits-twitter-x-1236208988/">Jamie Lee Curtis</a> also joined him in announcing on Instagram that she had left the X platform, without giving a specific reason she made the decision following Trump’s victory.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,” Curtis wrote on Instagram. &#8220;Courage to change the things I can. And the wisdom to know the difference.”
The U.K. news outlet The Guardian also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/nov/13/the-guardian-no-longer-post-on-x-twitter-elon-musk">announced</a> on Wednesday that it would no longer be posting on the platform due to its “often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism,” without providing any further information.
“The U.S. presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse,” the news outlet added.
Following news that Trump had indeed won reelection last week, outspoken leftist activist actress Bette Midler <a href="https://x.com/CalebJHull/status/1854189906475561026">deleted her account</a>.
TV host Piers Morgan appeared to mock the grand announcements from stars like Lemon and Curtis and instead announced that he would be staying.
“ANNOUNCEMENT:  I am not leaving X,” <a href="https://x.com/piersmorgan/status/1856745210601980225">Morgan wrote</a> in a now-viral post.

“Wilson” New York Screening – Arrivals

Don Lemon, Jamie Lee Curtis Announce They Are Leaving X Following Trump Victory

Don Lemon

One of the main lines of attack against Jair Bolsonaro, who served as president of Brazil until 2022, was one that we&#8217;re all very familiar with at this point. Liberals claimed that Bolsonaro was an &#8220;enemy of democracy.&#8221; Media outlets — both in the United States and Brazil — claimed that Bolsonaro was an autocrat who wanted to suspend the rule of law and use the force of government to punish his political enemies. This message resonated with Brazilians because some very prominent figures promoted it — including a former prosecutor-turned Supreme Court judge named Alexandre de Moraes. Among the Brazilian Left, de Moraes was something of a hero for taking on Bolsonaro. Most notably, the judge presided over a tribunal that banned Bolsonaro from running for office for 8 years.
Why? Bolsonaro allegedly spread &#8220;lies about voting machines,&#8221; which supposedly inspired a mob to ransack Congress, the presidential palace and other government buildings. It was basically Brazil&#8217;s January 6. So in the name of protecting democracy, the judge prevented people from voting for Bolsonaro for the better part of a decade.
He did to Bolsonaro exactly what the Left wanted to do to Donald Trump.
So what are the &#8220;defenders of democracy&#8221; up to in Brazil, just two years later? How are these crusaders for democratic norms faring in 2024?
As you may have heard, de Moraes just issued maybe the single most undemocratic and authoritarian court decision in the modern history of Brazil. He has unilaterally ordered a total ban on Elon Musk&#8217;s social media platform, X. No one in Brazil — a country where more than 20 million people used X — is legally allowed to use the platform. Anyone caught using a VPN to bypass this restriction can be fined roughly $9,000 per day, which is about 6 times the average Brazilian&#8217;s monthly salary. Additionally, de Moraes has fined X more than $3 million.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1437-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
He&#8217;s also frozen the assets of Elon Musk&#8217;s company Starlink, which provides internet access to hundreds of thousands of Brazilians living in remote areas. The point was to compel Starlink, an independent internet provider, to ban X as well. And on top of that, the Brazilian court system is now pressuring SpaceX, even though they have nothing whatsoever to do with the company. So SpaceX now has to pull employees out of Brazil.
The judge has gone to war with X for a very simple reason: The company refused to block certain accounts that, in the eyes of the Brazilian government, &#8220;harmed democratic institutions in Brazil.&#8221; And then, X refused to appoint an in-person local legal representative in Brazil, because the judge had threatened to arrest the representative to extract concessions from X. So in order to &#8220;protect democratic institutions&#8221; supposedly, tens of millions of Brazilians can no longer access the single most popular news app in the country. They have to turn to the corporate press to learn what they&#8217;re allowed to hear. Only approved narratives are allowed in Brazil right now.
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a></h4>
For Elon Musk, the showdown in Brazil is obviously a major test. He&#8217;s long maintained that he&#8217;ll obey the laws of whatever countries his companies are operating in. But he maintains that Brazil&#8217;s judges are violating Brazil&#8217;s constitution, which isn&#8217;t exactly a hard case to make at this point. This week The Economist took a closer look at the judge who issued this order against X and Starlink. <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/09/03/the-all-powerful-judge-taking-on-elon-musk">Here&#8217;s</a> what they found:
<blockquote>Mr Moraes also has form: he is a man who likes and understands power. He has extensive contacts in the federal police, military and intelligence services. &#8230; Other decisions have made the court look authoritarian. In 2019 Mr Moraes was put in charge of investigating misinformation about the Supreme Court and threats against the court’s members and their relatives. These had spiked after the election of Mr Bolsonaro. The &#8216;fake-news&#8217; inquiry was contentious from the start. Normally investigations are opened by the public prosecutor or the police. By giving itself the power to initiate investigations the Supreme Court became victim, prosecutor and judge all at once. No time limit was set, there is no legal definition for disinformation in Brazil and Mr Moraes has not made public which accounts he has ordered shut and why.</blockquote>
This is a violation of one of the most basic principles of every functioning legal system, which is that courts are only supposed to resolve legal disputes that are brought to them. That is their one and only job. Some party — whether it&#8217;s a citizen or the government or some other entity — needs to bring a case to the courts. And then the courts rule on it.
Once the courts have the authority to generate cases on their own, and make up arbitrary rules to enforce, then they&#8217;re not really courts anymore. Instead of judges, you have de facto dictators. And that&#8217;s what&#8217;s happening right now to Elon Musk and his companies in Brazil.
You&#8217;d hope that an incident like this would trigger immediate condemnations from the State Department. After all, the Biden administration claims to care very deeply about democracy. It&#8217;s essentially all they ever talk about. But there has been no condemnation from the mainstream Left in this country. In fact, if you listen to the corporate press, you&#8217;ll find a handful of reports essentially blaming Elon Musk for objecting to what the courts in Brazil are doing. 
Here for example is the BBC, which for some reason is pretending Taylor Lorenz — who openly hates Elon Musk — is an impartial expert on this topic. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Brazil suspends social media platform X | BBC News" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J1jcDq0ywIg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&#8220;He could have prevented the ban, but he chose not to.&#8221; Notice how the Brazilian government — which just shut down an entire social media app for millions of people — has no agency in Taylor Lorenz&#8217;s analysis. A private company refused to do the bidding of the Brazilian government. And therefore, it&#8217;s the private company&#8217;s fault that they got shut down. That&#8217;s how Taylor Lorenz, who works for The Washington Post, is selling this decision by the Brazilian Supreme Court. It&#8217;s how the BBC is presenting the news.
It&#8217;s not hard to see what&#8217;s going on here. Brazil is the template for mass censorship in the United States. If they can pull it off in Brazil, they&#8217;re going to try to pull it off here. That&#8217;s why the corporate press is presenting Elon Musk as the villain in this scenario. The media has a vested interest in shutting down X because it&#8217;s one of their biggest competitors. Random posts on X get more viewers than CNN&#8217;s entire primetime lineup. So in order to lay the groundwork for shutting down X in this country, they&#8217;re saying Elon Musk had it coming in Brazil. 
And it&#8217;s not just the media that&#8217;s trying to send this message. Senior figures in the Democrat Party are doing it too. For example, Keith Ellison is the attorney general of the State of Minnesota. He&#8217;s the chief legal officer of a major state. He&#8217;s also closely aligned with Kamala Harris&#8217; campaign. He just spoke at the DNC a few weeks ago. Here&#8217;s what Keith Ellison says about what&#8217;s happening to Elon Musk&#8217;s companies in Brazil.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
obrigado Brasil!
&mdash; Keith Ellison (@keithellison) <a href="https://twitter.com/keithellison/status/1830720700019028109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;obrigado Brasil,&#8221; which translates to &#8220;Thank you, Brazil.&#8221; 
Again, Keith Ellison is not some backbench politician from a no-name congressional district. He&#8217;s the chief law officer of Minnesota. And he&#8217;s endorsing the total shutdown of a major social media platform because it wouldn&#8217;t censor the political opponents of the government.
Politicians like Keith Ellison crave censorship because they&#8217;re corrupt. They only care about power. And they&#8217;re willing to lie in order to get it. Remember what Keith Ellison did during the George Floyd riots. Ellison&#8217;s office hid bodycam footage showing that George Floyd said, &#8220;I can&#8217;t breathe,&#8221; several times, while he was struggling with cops in the backseat of a police cruiser — long before he was on the ground with a knee near his neck. That was obviously relevant information because it suggested that Floyd was having a fatal overdose, and that he couldn&#8217;t breathe because he had taken a lethal quantity of fentanyl. So Keith Ellison&#8217;s office suppressed the footage.
Democrats like Keith Ellison want total control of social media platforms like X so that they can suppress information like that even more often, and even more easily. They want to be able to shut down any information or opinions that contradict their preferred narrative. That&#8217;s why they&#8217;re thrilled with what&#8217;s happening in Brazil. 
It&#8217;s also why they have no problem with what the Biden administration is doing to Tusli Gabbard. Gabbard has emerged as one of the most effective critics of the modern Democrat Party. She has what no prominent Democrat has, which is integrity. She was on the fast-track to be a senior official in the Democrat Party, even serving as vice chair of the DNC. But she threw all of that away because she wanted to follow her principles — particularly concerning foreign affairs — instead of seeking power. So, Tulsi Gabbard can&#8217;t be controlled by party elites. What&#8217;s their solution? They put her on a terror watch list. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Kamala says she believes in freedom, but I was put on a secret terror watch list after I publicly criticized her. No one will be safe from political retaliation under a Harris administration. I put my life on the line for this country. Now the government calls me a terror threat. <a href="https://t.co/3xjgjmrLhD">pic.twitter.com/3xjgjmrLhD</a>
&mdash; Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) <a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1831346487969698259?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2024</a></blockquote>
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This should be leading every nightly newscast in the United States. There is no reason for a political figure like Tusli Gabbard to be placed on any kind of terror watch list, or to receive 30 minutes of extra screening every time she tries to fly. The only conceivable explanation is that this is a federal program intended to harass and intimidate her. She&#8217;s not following the party line, so this is what she gets.
But she&#8217;s able to speak freely about what&#8217;s happening to her on X, at least for now. That&#8217;s the platform where Tulsi Gabbard posted that video I just showed you. It&#8217;s where she — and many other political dissidents in many other countries — can speak their minds, for the most part. At the very least, it&#8217;s a freer platform than any of the alternatives. That&#8217;s why the government, in both this country and Brazil, wants to shut X down. It&#8217;s also why France is trying to shut Telegram down and jail its founder. We are in the middle of a historic war on the freedom of speech, in countries where it would&#8217;ve been unthinkable just a few years ago.
<h4><a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a></h4>
If they&#8217;re allowed to succeed in places like Brazil and France, it won&#8217;t be long until they try the same thing here. Our Constitution won&#8217;t protect us. Brazil and France have constitutions that supposedly protect the freedom of speech, and it&#8217;s not working out so well for them. The only solution is to do exactly what Elon Musk and Tusli Gabbard are doing, which is to respond to censorship and intimidation with more speech — call out what they&#8217;re doing. And in November, do everything you can to prevent these tyrants from seizing any more power than they already have.

Brazil’s Supreme Court Justice Alexandre De Moraes

Brazil Bans Free Speech In The Name Of Democracy. Are We Next?

Brazil

Keith Ellison

Taylor Lorenz

Tulsi Gabbard

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Long before Uncle Ben imparted this sage advice to Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, in comics and movies, it was an accepted maxim in Western civilization known as “noblesse oblige.” Those with wealth, privilege, or position have an obligation to use the advantages of their birth to benefit those not similarly situated. As Americans, we are blessed with the greatest protection of individual rights known to man, none more important than the Constitution’s First Amendment, which lays freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly as the bedrock upon which our republic rests. For nearly two and half centuries our nation has been a beacon and today, perhaps more than ever, that light must be shown to Brazil.
On Friday, Justice Alexandre de Moraes of the Brazilian Supreme Court ordered the “immediate, complete and total suspension of X’s operations” in the country after the social media platform refused to comply with government orders to shut down accounts which it had singled out for censorship.
The decision imposes a daily fine of R$50,000 (£6,800/almost $9,000) on individuals and companies that attempt to continue using X via a virtual private network.
The same justice has also issued an order to freeze the assets of the company Starlink, a satellite internet provider, following X’s refusal to comply with the censorship orders. Starlink is a subsidiary of SpaceX, an entirely different company in which <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8789d9b8-a466-45c9-94b0-8e409683bb1e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> is a 40% minority shareholder with 79% voting rights.
Monday, the Brazilian Supreme Court upheld the decision to ban X nationwide, further curtailing the right to free speech online.
Appealing to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to uphold freedom of expression, lawyers from free speech-supporting legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom International petitioned the body – which has jurisdiction over Brazil under the American Convention on Human Rights – to intervene in the dire situation.
The orders to censor online content are supposedly based on combatting disinformation and fake news. But the state has targeted conservative voices for censorship, including blocking pro-life messages during the 2022 election campaign, which contained a message contrary to the pro-abortion position held by then-candidate Lula da Silva.
Other targeted speech included repudiations of the Nicaraguan government’s suppression of religious freedom and the concern it could happen in Brazil, and criticism of Lula’s promotion of sexually explicit content in school curricula.
Various journalists and public figures, including journalist Paulo Figueiredo and bestselling American author Michael Shellenberger, have already been targeted with secret criminal investigations for reporting on the authoritarian drift of the Brazilian courts and their censorship efforts.
Of course, America’s moral authority to lead the world against the rising global tide of censorship is only as strong as our commitment to uphold these fundamental human rights in our own country. Facebook/Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/zuckerberg-says-biden-administration-pressured-meta-censor-covid-19-content-2024-08-27/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent a letter</a> to Congress admitting that his platform had censored important news stories under pressure from the Biden-Harris administration.
Last year, the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government <a href="https://adfmedia.org/press-release/adf-testify-us-house-subcommittee-weaponization-federal-government?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> that the U.S. Treasury Department conspired with major banks to monitor transactions of ordinary citizens making purchases at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops, and Cabela’s, and buying  “religious texts” like Bibles under the guise of identifying potential “domestic terrorists.” The federal government also flagged mainstream conservative organizations, and faith-based non-profit advocacy organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, as potential “domestic terrorist” threats for surveillance by major banks.
Unfortunately, government suppression of disfavored viewpoints in America isn’t limited to big government in Washington, D.C., As a seventh grader, <a href="https://adflegal.org/press-release/adf-likely-appeal-there-are-only-two-genders-t-shirt-case?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Liam Morrison</a> wore a T-shirt to Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts, that read, “There are only two genders.” The principal of the school, along with a school counselor, pulled Liam out of class and ordered him to remove his shirt. After Liam politely declined, school officials said that he must remove the shirt, or he could not return to class. Attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom are representing Liam in court to defend his, and every student’s, right to free speech.
The rising tide of censorship abroad has reached our shores; when it comes to protecting free speech from the authoritarian impulses of government officials, we now must stand resolute on both fronts. And whether it is in the halls of power in Brazil, Washington, D.C., the local city hall or school district, we cannot give an inch. It has been said that all the darkness in the world cannot withstand the light of a single candle. America must stoke the flame of liberty at home so that it might shine brightly for the world to see.
* * *
Lathan Watts is vice president of public affairs at <a href="https://adflegal.org/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alliance Defending Freedom</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Brazil’s Ban On X Is Yet Another Gut Punch To Global Free Speech

Brazil's Ban On X Is Yet Another Gut Punch To Global Free Speech

Readers Pass

Responding to the House GOP&#8217;s exposé of the apparent collusion between supposed guardians of free speech and advertisers, billionaire Elon Musk said on Thursday that his social media platform X would sue the perpetrators of the advertising boycott against conservative news organizations.
The House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), held a hearing on Wednesday. During the hearing, they interviewed four people regarding the issue: The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro; Herrish Patel, the president of Unilever; Christian Juhl, the Global Chief Executive Officer of GroupM; and Spencer Waller, a professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
“Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, X has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket. Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution,” Musk tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, 𝕏 has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket. 
Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution. <a href="https://t.co/5W4yf1wxVO">https://t.co/5W4yf1wxVO</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1811360296218341403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The House Judiciary Committee released a report in which it <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2024-07-10%20GARMs%20Harm%20-%20How%20the%20Worlds%20Biggest%20Brands%20Seek%20to%20Control%20Online%20Speech.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated</a>, “In exercising oversight of the adequacy and sufficiency of existing U.S. antitrust laws, the Committee has been investigating apparent collusion within the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and specifically its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative. Through GARM, large corporations, advertising agencies, and industry associations participated in boycotts and other coordinated action to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members.”
Earlier this month, Musk&#8217;s X <a href="https://x.com/Safety/status/1807793931003768991">announced</a> it had &#8220;reinstated&#8221; its relationship with the WFA and GARM and was &#8220;proud to be part of the GARM community!&#8221; X is currently <a href="https://wfanet.org/leadership/garm/members-governance">listed</a> as a GARM member on WFA&#8217;s website.
“By basically demonetizing conservative platforms and websites, you make it that tough for those ideas to be heard,” Jordan <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/jim-jordan-garm-conservative-speech/2024/07/10/id/1172009/">told</a> Newsmax. “We asked the question for one of the companies who is on the board of this organization GARM, Global Alliance for Responsible Media — misnamed, should be named HARM — one of the companies that was there. I said, do you advertise on The Daily Wire? Do they advertise on Newsmax? Do they advertise on Breitbart?”
“And the answer to those questions was no. But they advertise on &#8216;The View.&#8217; They advertise in The Washington Post. So it&#8217;s totally biased. We all know that instinctively, but now we have documents that show it,” he added.
Jordan pointed out a reported attempt by GARM to boycott X after Musk bought it in October 2022.
“They use this term &#8216;uncommon collaboration,&#8217; which is a fancy way of saying it&#8217;s a cartel, and we&#8217;re going to set these standards,” Jordan said. “But the standards are such that they&#8217;re so subjective. They can sort of be gotten around any way you want. And then all they really do is advertise on left sides or where there are sites with no politics, and they never seem to put any advertising dollars or very little when it comes to conservative platforms and conservative websites.”
RELATED: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/garm-exposed-house-judiciary-report-says-ad-coalition-broke-law-to-silence-conservatives">GARM Exposed: House Judiciary Report Says Ad Coalition Likely Broke Law To Silence Conservatives</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ben-shapiro-delivers-blistering-opening-statement-to-congress-on-cartel-silencing-conservatives">Ben Shapiro Delivers Blistering Opening Statement To Congress On &#8216;Cartel&#8217; Silencing Conservatives</a></li>
</ul>

Elon Musk of RPA attends the Conference European Jewish

Elon Musk Responds To Ben Shapiro Testimony, Says X Will Sue ‘Collaborators In The Advertising Boycott Racket’

advertising

Ben Shapiro

boycott

Business

GARM

House Judiciary Committee

Jim Jordan

The Daily Wire

Dozens of decisions from a Brazilian Supreme Court Justice related to his targeting of Elon Musk’s social media platform X have been revealed.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes had barred X from making the decisions public, but the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee, as a result of committee subpoenas involving X, revealed the decisions in a 541-page staff report, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brazil-twitter-elon-musk-x-censorship-f51dc67d51c8f5a1cf152ba467f44a8f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
“To comply with its obligations under U.S. law, X Corp. has responded to the Committee,” X stated earlier this week.
De Moraes had demanded permanent bans on at least 150 X profiles from elected officials and journalists, according to investigative journalist Michael Shellenberger, who <a href="https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1781047600663122257" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>:
<blockquote>
Given the dependence of elected leaders on social media, these demands for bans may constitute electoral interference. In one case, De Moraes demanded that all major social media platforms, including at least one, Twitter, which did not publish the offending material, ban a federal Congressman, Marcel Van Hattem. The TSE had claimed that Van Hattem had criticized the election results. Not only had Van Hattan’s video not been related to the elections, but it was also a criticism of the Labor Department. It was released one day before the election.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
De Moraes absolutely interfered with the Brazil elections <a href="https://t.co/QYCQf02Vzq">https://t.co/QYCQf02Vzq</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1781091220816560330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Musk is indeed a very innovative businessman; he innovated with electric cars, he innovated with rockets and now he invented a new form of non-compliance of a court order, through an intermediary,” Carlos Affonso, director of the nonprofit Institute of Technology and Society, told the AP. “He said he would reveal the documents and he found someone to do this for him.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1713611654298000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3YPWSe9w05H79aayRzLC1M">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
&#8220;About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18% of the population, access X at least once per month, according to market research group eMarketer,&#8221; the AP noted.
After de Moraes ordered X to block the accounts earlier this month, Musk said he would defy the court’s order once his employees were in a “safe place” where they could not be arrested. De Moraes then issued a <a href="https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/404983/moraes-inclui-elon-musk-no-inquerito-das-milicias-digitais" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision</a>  accusing Musk of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime. On April 13, X’s legal representative in Brazil informed de Moraes they would comply with all court orders.

MixCollage-19-Apr-2024-08-21-AM-6891

GOP House Committee Reveals Docs Of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Targeting Musk’s X

Courts

Teens and kids are not the only ones glued to their social media feeds anymore — the vast majority of adults spend time scrolling too.
Data released earlier this year shows that a majority of American adults use some kind of social media, but their habits and preferred platforms are different from younger users.
YouTube and Facebook are both about two decades old now, but they remain the top two platforms among adults.
YouTube is by far the most widely used platform among adults as well as teens. About eight in 10 American adults, 83%, say they have used the video-sharing platform at some point, according to recent <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Pew Research Center, which polled more than 5,700 adults between May and September last year.
<div id="attachment_707565" style="width: 347px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-707565" class="size-large wp-image-707565" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-337x576.webp" alt="" width="337" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-337x576.webp 337w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-175x300.webp 175w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01.webp 620w" sizes="(max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px" />Pew Research.</div>
Facebook is not far behind with a majority of U.S. adults, 68%, saying they use it. By contrast, teens have fled Facebook over the past decade as their parents, relatives, teachers, and other adults have joined. In 2022, only 32% of teens <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/#The-social-media-landscape-has-shifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> they had ever used Facebook, down from 71% in 2015.
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has attracted about half of adults with 47% saying they use the image-based platform.
<div id="attachment_707569" style="width: 840px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-707569" class="size-large wp-image-707569" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-830x576.webp" alt="" width="830" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-830x576.webp 830w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-300x208.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-768x533.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08.webp 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px" />Pew Research.</div>
About a fifth of adults say they use Twitter, which was recently renamed X and is known for fast-moving discourse especially relating to politics and pop culture. A fifth also say they use Reddit, known for its hyper-specific communities and sometimes NSFW content.
Of course, TikTok has exploded in popularity in recent years, especially among teens and kids, but a third of adults have flocked to the video-sharing platform as well.
TikTok has seen a 12-point spike in adult users since 2021, while the percentages of adults who use YouTube and Facebook, the most popular platforms, have stayed about the same since 2021.
However, about half of TikTok&#8217;s adult users are observers only, meaning they have never posted a video themselves. This includes younger adults aged 18 to 34 — only half have ever posted a video.
Because of this, the vast majority of TikTok&#8217;s content is created by a small share of users. The top 25% of adults on TikTok produce 98% of that group&#8217;s publicly available videos.
The typical adult TikTok user has also left their &#8220;bio&#8221; blank on their account.
More people are now getting their news from TikTok too. Last year, about 14% of adults said they got news regularly from TikTok, more than four times the 3% who said so in 2020.
TikTok&#8217;s pivot to a news source echoes Twitter&#8217;s evolution, which has become many people&#8217;s go-to source for up-to-the-minute news updates.
Communities geared towards adult users, such as parenting content and even X-rated content, have popped up on many of the platforms popular with adults.
Meanwhile among teens, YouTube is the most popular platform with 95% of teens <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/#The-social-media-landscape-has-shifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> in 2022 that they use it, followed by TikTok with 67% of teens, Instagram with 62%, and then Snapchat, an app used to send disappearing photos and messages, with 59%.
Teen girls are more likely to use Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, while teen boys are more likely to use Reddit and Twitch, a self-streaming platform often used by video gamers.
The average social media user is also not just on one platform but uses an eye-popping six or seven platforms every month.
Overall, we&#8217;re all scrolling more. Across the globe last year, about 4.9 billion people <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> social media, and that number continues to climb.

Facebook Temporarily Disabling Some Messenger Features In Europe

Among Adults, This Is By Far The Most Popular Social Media Platform

Gen Z

Internet

TikTok

YouTube

As soon as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/gina-carano">Gina Carano</a> saw one of the world’s richest men post this message on X, formerly known as Twitter, she knew the time had come to take her fight to court:
<blockquote>If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill. No limit. Please let us know.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
No limit. 
Please let us know.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1688022163574439937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Almost no one in the country has a clearer or higher-profile claim to Elon Musk’s offer than the actress who became a breakout star on Disney’s hit Star Wars series, “The Mandalorian.”
In 2020, when Carano began sharing political opinions criticizing COVID mask mandates and poking good-natured fun at online bullies who demand others state their preferred pronouns, the studio forced her to undergo <a href="https://fandomwire.com/i-feel-like-thats-extremely-abusive-gina-carano-claims-lucasfilm-ordered-her-to-watch-trans-documentaries-attend-zoom-call-with-45-lgbtq-members/">reeducation training</a>. But when she suggested that Holocaust-era hatred might provide a cautionary tale for America’s increasing atmosphere of intolerance and division, the company fired her.
<div id="attachment_192892" style="width: 851px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-192892" class="size-full wp-image-192892" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/02/2DF65C29-D1B6-4D2B-AF71-24896027DA3E_1_201_a.jpeg" alt="HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 13: Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano arrive at the premiere of Lucasfilm's first-ever, live-action series, &quot;The Mandalorian,&quot; at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. on November 13, 2019. &quot;The Mandalorian&quot; streams exclusively on Disney+. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)" width="841" height="473" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/02/2DF65C29-D1B6-4D2B-AF71-24896027DA3E_1_201_a.jpeg 841w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/02/2DF65C29-D1B6-4D2B-AF71-24896027DA3E_1_201_a-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/02/2DF65C29-D1B6-4D2B-AF71-24896027DA3E_1_201_a-768x432.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 841px) 100vw, 841px" />Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney via Getty Images</div>
“They just dehumanized me,” said Carano.
In our interview for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/border-bill-fails-nevada-primary-result-afternoon-update-2-7-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Morning Wire</a>, Carano speaks in soft tones that belie the tough fights — both <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Lc9eWglEI8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">literal</a> and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/actress-gina-carano-defies-hollywood-vaccine-mandate-non-union-project-1639076" target="_blank" rel="noopener">figurative</a> — she’s been willing to take on over the course of her career.
“Basically, what Disney and Lucasfilm said to the rest of [the industry], is, ‘Hey, don&#8217;t work with this person.’ And, you know, who&#8217;s not gonna listen to Disney, the most powerful entertainment company in the world?”
Ironically, <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/11/see-gina-caranos-tweets-and-posts-that-got-her-fired/">the 2021 post</a> that proved to be Carano’s undoing was a screenshot of a meme meant to encourage acceptance of one another’s differences. Below an historical image of a gang of Nazi youngsters attacking a bloodied and fleeing Jewish woman, the caption read: 
<blockquote>Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors…. even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different than hating someone for their political views?</blockquote>
Disney wildly mischaracterized the post, calling it “abhorrent and unacceptable,” claiming Carano had “denigrat[ed] people based on their cultural and religious identities.” But worse, Carano says news outlets like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/arts/television/gina-carano-lucasfilm.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> dutifully spread the company’s false narrative. 
“When I was going through it, I was like, ‘These people are telling such lies. How are they getting away with this?’” the former MMA fighter wondered. “The media was sick at that time. They would just try to twist everything that I posted into something racist. And it&#8217;s really been kind of humorous now, because people are waking up, and they&#8217;re like, ‘wait a second, what did she say?’”
<div id="attachment_397862" style="width: 787px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-397862" class="size-large wp-image-397862" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano-777x576.jpg" alt="Gina Carano" width="777" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano-777x576.jpg 777w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano-300x222.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano-768x569.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano-1536x1139.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/06/Gina-Carano.jpg 1793w" sizes="(max-width: 777px) 100vw, 777px" />Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images for Daily Wire</div>
Yet, for three years, Carano, who starred in the Daily Wire’s “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/terror-on-the-prairie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terror On The Prairie</a>,” lacked the resources to counter the destructive message Disney had peddled about her, making it next to impossible for her to find work in mainstream Hollywood.
“I had to, you know, completely move my life out of California and [the question] was, where am I going to put my funds? In trying to battle Disney for years and years? Or am I going to just try to restart my life? I had spoken to some lawyers, and they said how expensive it was going to be. And I was like, oh my gosh, well, I need to get stable and in a safe place first.” 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Morning Wire</a></h4>
Musk’s willingness to foot the legal bill for anyone who had a legitimate discrimination claim changed her timeline. 
As soon as she saw it, she reached out to X executives and almost immediately heard back from lawyers asking for more information. Carano sent over her story, including a detailed timeline, email records, and text communications she’d kept from her time working on &#8220;The Mandalorian.&#8221; Then she held her breath for the short time it took them to reply back, “Yes, we want to take this on.”
If successful, Carano’s suit, filed February 6 in a California federal court, will force Lucasfilm to recast her and compensate her for lost wages. And she doesn’t believe she’ll be the last wrongful termination complainant Disney will face, especially given that Musk put out a <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1755007753289134162?s=46&amp;t=mc2vHozZJYYzru9DdSGqTQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second call</a> urging other current and former Mouse House employees to come forward if they believe the company has discriminated against them.
“I think [the lawyers X has provided to pursue cases against Disney] are probably getting flooded,” Carano says. “There’s needed to be a reckoning in that company, I believe, for a long time. Because for a long time, it&#8217;s been like, ‘Well, we&#8217;re Disney. We&#8217;re Lucasfilm. You should just be honored to be here. And that kind of mentality really led to disrespect of people from every single department, not just actors … And everybody who&#8217;s worked in that company knows that there&#8217;s a problem, and it needs to be fixed.”
So far, Disney executives are staying as quiet as mice about Carano’s allegations, with CEO Bob Iger saying he has <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/bob-iger-gina-carano-mandalorian-lawsuit-1235818809/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no comment</a>.
But X is making it clear it’s in the actress’ corner for the long haul. The same day Carano filed her suit, Joe Benarroch, the platform’s head of business operations, made this statement to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/gina-carano-sues-disney-mandalorian-firing-lawsuit-elon-musk-1235817466/">The Hollywood Reporter</a>: “As a sign of X Corp’s commitment to free speech, we’re proud to provide financial support for Gina Carano’s lawsuit, empowering her to seek vindication of her free speech rights on X and the ability to work without bullying, harassment, or discrimination.”
One thing is certain: If Musk and Carano are successful, it could have huge implications for the entertainment industry. And for the First Amendment rights of all American workers.

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