Seth Stern

Leakers Helped Destroy Deportation Case Against Tufts Student This week, a judge finally dismissed the deporation case, which was built solely on an op-ed, against the Tufts doctoral student.

"When the government ignores and abuses laws designed to ensure transparency, it’s no wonder that people of conscience decide to leak news to the press and public," FPF's Seth Stern writes for @theintercept.com.

‘The Classified Catalog’ launches to track secrecy news New database will mark Trump’s 100th day in office

Excessive government secrecy is growing.

The Classified Catalog by @freedom.press helps you keep track of the administration's assault on our right to know so you can report, research, and fight back.

Check it out here:

Judge says Trump administration can't search reporter's devices The judge compared allowing the government to search the devices to "leaving the government's fox in charge of the Washington Post's henhouse."

The Trump admin "has a long track record of falsely claiming national security threats to protect itself from embarrassment," FPF's Seth Stern told @brieannafrank.bsky.social.

The DOJ has earned zero judicial deference when it comes to national security claims.

Have your requests for records, data, or interviews from federal health agencies been ignored or denied?

@healthjournalism.org and @spj-posts.bsky.social are tracking access issues to support advocacy and, when needed, legal action.

Reach out: tinyurl.com/5e8u9kdr

🔔 Government officials are citing journalism as "doxxing" to threaten press freedom.

Join our webinar with @telliotter.bsky.social, @royalpratt.bsky.social, @sovernnation.bsky.social, and @charlie4change.bsky.social to learn more.

🗓️ March 4, 2 pm ET

RSVP: freedom.press/journalism-isnt-doxxing

🔔 Filing FOIA requests is a murky process. Join our webinar with public records experts @laurenleharper.bsky.social, @mattacpc.bsky.social, and Mukta Joshi to learn about prying loose documents the government doesn't want seen.

🗓️ Feb. 24, 1 p.m. ET/noon CT

RSVP: freedom.press/workin-FOIA

Here is the User Guide for ELITE, the Tool Palantir Made for ICE 404 Media is publishing a version of the user guide for ELITE, which lets ICE bring up dossiers on individual people and provides a “confidence score” of their address.

A manual for ICE's immigrant-targeting computer system, Palantir ELITE, was leaked today.

Let's look at it, then step back to evaluate how far we've come along a dangerous road and where that road might take us. 🧵

Florida bill would create a counterterrorism and counterintelligence team The team would be focused on finding and stopping terrorism, foreign intelligence operations and insider threats.

Florida man seeks to create state counterintelligence unit, claim vast surveillance powers against those with "views" and "opinions" he doesn't like.

Not as funny as those other “Florida man” headlines.

Prison-Style Free Speech Censorship Is Coming for the Rest of Us The outcome of a court case could decide whether the Trump administration can criminalize simply possessing political literature.

Incarcerated people have long faced discipline for reading literature that guards don't like. Now Daniel Sanchez Estrada is facing federal trial tomorrow for possessing anarchist zines.

Jeremy wrote for @theintercept.com about how the case could bring prison style censorship to the outside world.

Leakers Helped Destroy Deportation Case Against Tufts Student This week, a judge finally dismissed the deporation case, which was built solely on an op-ed, against the Tufts doctoral student.

"When the government ignores and abuses laws designed to ensure transparency, it’s no wonder that people of conscience decide to leak news to the press and public," FPF's @seth-stern.bsky.social writes for @theintercept.com.

Open Letter to Tech Companies: Protect Your Users From Lawless DHS Subpoenas EFF is calling on technology companies like Meta and Google to stand up for their users by resisting DHS lawless administrative subpoenas for user data.

We (@eff.org & @aclu-norcal.bsky.social) have asked several techcos to closely scrutinize and resist compliance with administrative subpoenas from ICE, CBP, and other DHS components. DHS is using these subpoenas to punish those exercising their First Amendment rights. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Leakers Helped Destroy the Deportation Case Against Tufts Student This week, a judge finally dismissed the deporation case, which was built solely on an op-ed, against the Tufts doctoral student.

Leakers Helped Destroy the Deportation Case Against Tufts Student
theintercept.com/2026/02/13/r...

A journalist’s campaign to fix public records law in the U.S. Virgin Islands If journalists don’t advocate for their own rights, who will?

The U.S. Virgin Islands always deserve transparency but especially when they're at the center of national news like the Epstein case.

We spoke to journalist @shirleysmithvi.bsky.social about her efforts to fix the territory's archaic public records laws.

Thanks for your support @freedom.press. Journalists must pushback against any attempts by those in power - locally & nationally - to stifle the media because every time they succeed, it emboldens others to follow suit, which can lead to the dismantling of democracy & a government-controlled media.

Judge Censored an ICE Agent’s Face Over “Threats.” His Info Was a Google Search Away. After a judge agreed to keep an ICE agent’s face out of the court record, a simple internet search revealed his name and location.

An ICE official told a judge that showing his face would put his life in danger. Turns out his face was on his LinkedIn profile.

It's a "clear example" of the false pretexts used to shield officials from accountability, FPF's Seth Stern writes in @theintercept.com.

DHS calls leaks a threat. Here’s what we wouldn’t know without them Recent leaks have exposed DHS’s warrantless home invasions, targeting of protesters, surveillance overreach, and propaganda campaigns

DHS calls whistleblowers a “threat to national security.”

But without leaks to the press, the public wouldn’t know that ICE is entering homes without warrants, labeling protesters “domestic terrorists,” building mass surveillance tools with Big Tech, or pushing propaganda.

Kristi Noem says she found a source of major DHS leaks Noem has previously said those found leaking information could face up to 10 years in federal prison.

Isn't Noem's post about leaks kind of...a leak?

Don't think prosecutors are into gov officials giving heads ups about criminal referrals.

Of course the administration only opposes leaks that expose its corruption and incompetence. They're all for leaks that get them a few social media likes.

The #FirstAmendment is under attack.
Legacy media needs to advocate for #PressFreedom

A local PA newspaper is being sued by a US House Rep for an *Opinion* piece:
"satisfies the constitutional actual-malice standard"
(Ken Cuccinelli of Project 2025 filed)

+DonLemon & GeorgiaFort
+Natanson / WaPo

The charges against @donlemonofficial.bsky.social and @bygeorgiafort.bsky.social “are absolutely frivolous,” FPF’s Seth Stern tells CNN’s Victor Blackwell.

Trump’s point “is not to win. The point is to intimidate and chill lawful newsgathering.”

The arrest of Don Lemon is blatant censorship. And he is not the only one | Seth Stern Thursday’s arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort demonstrate the administration’s lawless crusade against routine journalism

🔴 The arrest of Don Lemon is blatant censorship. And he is not the only one: Thursday’s arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort demonstrate the administration’s lawless crusade against routine journalism

Read FPF's @seth-stern.bsky.social's op-ed in the @us.theguardian.com.

The arrest of Don Lemon is blatant censorship. And he is not the only one | Seth Stern Thursday’s arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort demonstrate the administration’s lawless crusade against routine journalism

The arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are blatant censorship. And they are not the only ones.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

#PressFreedom

From @freedom.press' @seth-stern.bsky.social: The "arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort are naked attacks on freedom of the press. Two federal courts flatly rejected" prosecuting them for reporting, and "instead of accepting that humiliating defeat, the government has now doubled down"

From assaults at protests to a raid at a reporter’s home, plus a prior restraint in Las Vegas — a month into 2026, journalists are facing a landscape of aggressions.

Watch our Managing Editor @kamccudden.bsky.social explain, and subscribe to our newsletter: pressfreedomtracker.us/newsletter

COMMENTARY: Judicial overreach Clark County judge mangles the First Amendment.

A Nevada judge entered two illegal gag orders against journalists in just over a week.

FPF's @seth-stern.bsky.social wrote for @reviewjournal.com that any first year law student could have recognized the unconstitutionality of Judge Jessica Peterson's ridiculous rulings.

Journalists headed to Minneapolis:

I checked in with @acatwithnews.bsky.social who's on the ground. Good tips. 👇

A) Brace for EXTREME cold. Sean's from Milwaulkee. Even he called it "WTF level of cold."

B) Chemical spray may render gear unusable. Destroyed his mittens, which are vital.

🧵 1/5

I'm looking for witnesses/victims of DHS retaliation against people recording their agents (ICE, Border Patrol, FPS, etc) in North Carolina.

I focus on press, but victims do NOT need to be a journalist. Everyone has right to record.

Our friends @aclunc.bsky.social would also love to hear from you:

"Checking for a pulse and administering CPR is standard. Instead of doing either of those things, the ICE agents appeared to be counting his bullet wounds."

A group, one of many, holding candles in honor of a community member executed by an unaccountable paramilitary invasion force

This is Minneapolis.

Literally every corner along Lake St. packed with people holding candles, many singing, honoring a person who by all accounts was an absolute gem of a human, whose life was tragically stolen by a fascist, paramilitary occupation force.

Videos show federal agents killing Minneapolis man Some details of federal government’s account of the shooting aren’t supported by footage captured by bystanders.

Filming ICE is an act of journalism. Cell phone footage is vital source material for reporters who can’t be everywhere at once.

Shooting, killing and other targeting of those documenting news is an attack on press freedom and all else that's good in the world.

The Weiss Silence: Sometimes silence can be louder than words. On Wednesday, the Israeli military killed three journalists in a military strike, including Abdel Raouf Shaat, a freelance cameraman who worked for CBS News and the AFP. The AFP quickly issued a forceful statement, saying it “demands a full and transparent investigation into his death” and warning that “far too many local journalists have been killed in Gaza over the past two years while foreign journalists remain unable to enter the territory freely.” Bizarrely, CBS News—now run by the stridently pro-Israel Bari Weiss—has not issued a public statement of its own. Network President Tom Cibrowski addressed Shaat’s death on the company’s Thursday morning staff call. And CBS News published a story that included an email in which a London producer remembered Shaat. But institutionally, the network has remained silent. For an organization led by a figure who rarely hesitates to weigh in loudly and publicly on matters involving Israel, the quiet here is notable, to say the least.

Brutal contrast exposed by @oliverdarcy.bsky.social tonight in @status.news ...

Israel killed a journalist who worked for both CBS and AFP.

Only one of those outlets immediately spoke out.

Hint: Not the one run by Bari Weiss.