But in the end, the complaint says, it became clear that the FTC was determined to press "several of the most intrusive, infringing demands," including "identification of all NewsGuard subscribers," "communications with customers," "identification of all entities to which NewsGuard had ever assigned a News Reliability Rating," "the particulars of each rating assigned to each entity over time," and documents, including internal correspondence, showing "how NewsGuard has As a condition for approving the merger of Omnicom Group and the Interpublic Group of Companies, which created "the world's largest advertising agency and media buying company," the FTC decreed that the new entity, in placing ads, could not consider "political or ideological viewpoints," including "viewpoints as to the veracity of news reporting or other politically or ideologically contested facts, such as their characterization as 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' 'bias,' or similar terms." In Moody v. NetChoice, which involved Florida and Texas laws that aimed to prevent "censorship" by restricting the moderation practices of social media platforms, the Supreme Court made it clear that the government has no business trying to shape online speech in the name of balance.
Author: Jacob Sullum
Published at: 2026-02-09 21:23:00
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