Center for Journalism and Liberty submits comment to FTC on Tech Platform Censorship and Threats to Press Freedom

WASHINGTON — The Center for Journalism & Liberty (CJL) at the Open Markets Institute has submitted a formal comment to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in response to its Request for Information (RFI) investigating how technology platforms may deny or degrade access to services based on the content of speech. CJL’s comment presents detailed, empirical evidence on how dominant digital platforms, particularly Meta, Google, and X (formerly Twitter), manipulate the flow of information in ways that harm journalistic integrity, press freedom, and democratic discourse. 

“While we object strongly to the illegal and unconstitutional effort to remove FTC Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya and we believe it is critical that this politicized inquiry not be used to further the false narrative that content moderation unfairly censors conservative voices. Instead, it must reckon honestly with the role Big Tech platforms play in shaping public discourse and marginalizing journalism,” said CJL Director Dr. Courtney Radsch. 

Key Points from CJL’s Submission Include: 

• Systemic Suppression of Journalism: CJL outlines numerous cases in which content moderation policies and opaque algorithms have suppressed, de-ranked, or shadow-banned journalistic content. These include algorithmic penalization of external links, disproportionate content removals, and vague or inconsistently applied rules. 

• Platform Power and Market Distortion: The submission emphasizes that issues of content access are rooted not only in moderation policies but also in monopolistic business models and vertical integration. Google’s dominance in search and advertising and Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have consolidated control over how news reaches the public. 

• Censorship by Proxy: The platforms have shown patterns of compliance with both domestic and foreign government censorship requests, particularly in countries like India, Turkey, and Vietnam. The result is a troubling level of de facto privatized censorship that undermines global press freedom. 

• Retaliation Against Journalists: The comment documents retaliatory actions taken by X under Elon Musk’s ownership, including the arbitrary suspension of reporters critical of Musk and his businesses, and the suppression of critical reporting under opaque “safety” justifications. 

• Distorted Narratives Around Bias: CJL disputes the narrative that content moderation disproportionately harms conservative voices. Instead, it finds that suppression is often driven by opaque, profit-driven algorithms and external pressures that harm independent and critical journalism across the political spectrum. 

• Call for Structural Reform: CJL does not support direct government intervention in platform speech decisions but instead advocates for structural remedies. These include antitrust enforcement, promoting alternatives to monopolistic platforms, and considering regulation of dominant platforms as common carriers, as proposed in Ohio, to guarantee equal access and nondiscrimination. 

“Dominant platforms act as unaccountable gatekeepers, distorting access to journalism, undermining the freedom of the press, and weakening the foundations of the world’s democracies. This is not about speech preferences or ideology—it’s about the power to structure our information environment, get reliable information about the world around us, and engage with each other fairly and honestly,” said Radsch. 

The CJL’s submission urges the FTC to focus on redressing the structural and market dynamics that enable such unchecked control over speech and access, and to ensure that journalism can continue to serve the public without interference from powerful corporate interests.