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Berin Szóka

@berinszoka.bsky.social
4.4K followers 2.1K following 709 posts

President @TechFreedom.org | 🇺🇸🇩🇪🇪🇺🗽 | Lawyer: tech, free speech, FTC, FCC, admin | “Resident Antagonist”—Politico | “The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right” | 🇫🇷🏳️‍🌈📚⛰️🥾🚣🎼 | doing PhD in 🇪🇺/🇺🇸 platform law @ Dublin City U

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Berin Szóka
Blake E. Reid @chup.blakereid.org · 06/10/2026
The courts have done a lot of "we're going to ignore the government's public, illegal rationales and focus narrowly on the after-the-fact pretext" but with the ABC early renewal show trial the FCC put the illegal rationale in the formal paperwork along with the pretext 🤡
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Livetweeting the court hearing on ABC v FCC. ABC wants the court to stop the FCC's hearing on early renewal of ABC's licenses plus all other retaliation against ABC's speech in violation of the First Amendment. Threshold question is the court's jurisdiction: Must ABC wait for a final order to sue?
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
But I still haven't found What I'm looking for. 🎶
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
tfw you forget AI is now "SI" (because Dear Leader said so) but then remember and quickly correct course during your interview--but the reporter makes your slip obvious and you worry you might get fired from your Beta role at the FTC and have to go back to flyover country...
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Reposted by Berin Szóka
Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 30/09/2026
Today Senator Blackburn is expected to try ramming KOSA--the Kids Online Safety Act--through the Senate via unanimous consent. KOSA was an Internet censorship bill in its inception, and in 4 years the only thing its authors have done is try to disguise KOSA's nature rather than fix it.
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Kate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Incredible how, like vaccines and reading with phonics, we need to keep learning these lessons over and over again.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
That "Downfall" bunker scene but without any sense irony—and paid for by you, the taxpayer
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
so now we're at the state-funded propaganda campaigns to stay in power stage of the authoritarian journey This is fine!
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Reposted by Berin Szóka
Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Cough…John Roberts did this…cough
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Me talking about our brief in support of ABC's lawsuit against FCC, signed by 18 former FCC Chairs, Commissioners, and senior officials of both parties podcast.techfreedom.org/episodes/440...
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Reposted by Berin Szóka
TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 24/09/2026
How far can the government go when a president doesn’t like what a broadcaster says? On a new Tech Policy Podcast, @aricohn.com and @berinszoka.bsky.social are joined by @thefireorg.bsky.social’s Bob Corn-Revere to unpack the escalating fight between ABC and the FCC. tinyurl.com/5xzkj37n
techfreedom.simplecast.com
440: The Fellas at the Freaking FCC | Tech Policy Podcast
How far can the government go when a president doesn’t like what a broadcaster says? Host Ari Cohn is joined by Berin Szóka (TechFreedom) and Bob Corn-Revere (FIRE) to unpack the escalating fight betw...
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Free for audible members till 9/30: "Liberty on Trial in America: Cases that Defined Freedom." Many of these cases are about free speech.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“The great bulk of our people are not emotional, undiscriminating, superficially minded, non-thinking, or hero worshipping. … They have the virtue of second sober thought.” -William Howard Taft (9/28/1912) lol whoops
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
yay slave owners AND beef tallow! 🗽🇺🇸🏈🌎🦅
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Paul Eric @pauleric70.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Walter Cronkite: After liberating execution camps… Germans (who cried) they didn’t know…were as as guilty as Nazis…because they applauded when Hitler shut down (media) and said, ‘We don’t need to know. We trust our government...’ It’s our duty to know.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Isn't it bad enough that Carr uses the FCC to punish speech Trump dislikes, violating the First Amendment with tactics that even Ted Cruz calls "mafioso"? Why smear him with the implication that he was in a "sex cult" when the story actually says he was A-OK? www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Brendan Carr was a member of a rogue Alcoholics Anonymous group some labeled a ‘cult’
Carr was a member of the group in his teens and 20s. There is no evidence Trump’s powerful FCC chair participated in any inappropriate conduct
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"expectations that Billy Possum would rival the Teddy [Bear] in popularity were swiftly dashed when the stuffed creature, resembling a ‘giant rat,’ caused children to cry.” - Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism
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Kate Klonick @klonick.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
If a nihilist 3 year-old was in charge of a bumper sticker factory.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
In its newest court filing, ABC TV says their first amendment rights are violated by Trump’s FCC probe of ABC affiliates What’s more, they say it’s crystal clear. They cite Trump’s own statements (Usually such cases require inferences. But not in this case. They argue)
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The FCC offers no response to ABC's arguments, ABC rightly tells the district court in its response to the FCC's motion to dismiss ABC's First Amendment lawsuit. Carr has weaponized the "public interest" to retaliate against speech he dislikes storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Reposted by Berin Szóka
TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 17/09/2026
18 FCC veterans of both parties' support ABC’s First Amendment lawsuit to stop the FCC from jawboning ABC in retaliation for speech the President doesn’t like. Read the amicus brief we just filed with @protectdemocracy.org ⤵️ techfreedom.org/fcc-threaten...
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Thoughtful and probably right. It doesn't even begin to address the profound challenges in adapting European law to the concept of "associate membership"—which is roughly what the UK wanted but Brussels refused to invent to forestall a complete Brexit
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Justice Kagan, 2023: "These are not, like, the nine greatest experts on the internet" Congress, 1927: "Hold my beer"
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Rachel Goodman @rachelegoodman.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
More evidence of constitutional injury for ABC... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/10/a...
nytimes.com
Jimmy Kimmel to Interview James Talarico ‘Under Unusual Circumstances’
A conversation with the Democratic Senate hopeful from Texas will move off air because of what the late night host called F.C.C. “threats” against his show and network.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Photo of the decade: AfD leader Alice Weidel
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Mike Davis held influential roles in a previous Republican Senate and the current Republican administration, but again, he's clearly not as important as some unaffiliated Twitch streamer, so no one in the mainstream media is going to demand any Republican denounce his gutter racism.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
No kings, no speech police
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Leave it to Brendan Carr to find a dull, technocratic way to shout "Lake Americaaa!" from the rooftops
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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Amazing to live in a country where the secret police are handling inter-chud beefs. It's like the Night of Long Knives playing out in the parking lot of a Dollar General.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Edith to Teddy Roosevelt: “You only have to live with me while I have to live with 𝘺𝘰𝘶.”
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Reposted by Berin Szóka
Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 28/08/2026
Some context... www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
wsj.com
For Years, an Esteemed Law Professor Seduced Students. Was He Too Important to Fire?
Joshua Wright’s achievements drew millions in donations to his university, but complaints about his personal behavior and cozy ties with Google, Facebook and other tech giants went nowhere.
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
yeah... some people even said professors can’t chase students! 🤯
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Bloomberg: FTC investigating YouTube's content moderation as deceptive, may soon sue. In 2020, the Republican FTC rightly refused Trump's demands to bring such suits because they would embroil the FTC in second-guessing editorial judgments in violation of the First Amendment 🧵
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
so the entire continental US has been taken over by a Christo-fascist dictatorship, leaving only Hawaii and Alaska to stand up to Gilead (with a little help from Canada) ... and Congress still can't be bothered to grant statehood to Puerto Rico, Guam, the Marianas, Samoa or the Virgin Islands?!?
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
something something jawboning
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Read this thread for a breakdown of the new de facto law of kids online
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
"It could never happen here," they said...
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Just want to say that these lunatics accused me of being a *secret CIA agent* while DataRepublican is literally working for the govt while pretending to be an ordinary influencers, & receiving leaked docs. The Trump admin is running ops, as they say, but for real. Every accusation is a confession.
Konstantin Toropin
@KToropin
G...
The Pentagon confirms -
"Ms. Pounds serves at the Department of War as a Special Government
Employee."
AF. AF Post •
@AFpost • Aug 21
Jennica Pounds, aka Data Republican, a Department of War employee, alleges that Undersecretary of State Sarah Rogers is attempting to "entrap" Pounds by providing her with information to "leak" under the guise of offering her a
"scoop."
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
this is how technopanics work
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 18/08/2026
Commissioner Anna Gomez continues to defend the First Amendment x.com/AGomezFCC/st...
x.com
Anna M. Gomez (@AGomezFCC) on X
I’m glad Disney has shown courage and stepped up. It is time this administration understands that the Constitution does not bend to political convenience, and that the First Amendment protects news a...
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 18/08/2026
Courts will see through whatever pretext the FCC uses to justify its mafia shakedown of ABC, or to delay judicial review. The First Amendment requires the court to enjoin any further harassment of ABC and other broadcasters.
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 18/08/2026
Mark Fowler, Reagan's first FCC Chair (1981-87), put it best in his sworn declaration supporting ABC's lawsuit: "Never in its history has the agency ever acted so corruptly and unlawfully to intrude on broadcasters’ First Amendment rights." techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 18/08/2026
ABC’s suit lays bare how the FCC is weaponizing its early renewal procedure to punish the network for allowing its show hosts to criticize the administration. The message to all broadcasters: dissent at your own peril.
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 18/08/2026
At last, ABC has sued the FCC over its retaliatory, unconstitutional campaign against ABC for broadcasting speech Trump dislikes—and refusing to carry Trump’s election fraud claims ABC’s First Amendment arguments couldn't be stronger. Our press release ⤵️
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Our deep dive (73pp) into the FCC forcing ABC to apply to renew its broadcast licenses, the most egregious abuse of power in the 92-year history of the FCC. This is Carr at his most shameless, ruthless, and dangerous. techfreedom.org/fcc-cant-use...
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 30/07/2026
The First Amendment bars the government from retaliating against disfavored speech. TechFreedom filed comments opposing efforts to deny ABC's license renewals, arguing the FCC lacks the legal & constitutional authority to force early renewals or revoke its broadcast licenses. tinyurl.com/yken9y85
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TechFreedom @techfreedom.org · 28/07/2026
Today, @techfreedom.org's @berinszoka.bsky.social joined @protectdemocracy.org and a bipartisan coalition of former high-ranking FCC officials in urging FCC Chairman Carr to end the Commission's retaliatory early review of ABC's broadcast licenses. protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...
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Berin Szóka @berinszoka.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
I'm very proud to have helped organize this coalition through @techfreedom.org
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