Progressive watchdog takes Trump to court over attempt to 'silence and harass'

Media Matters, a progressive organization dedicated to correcting right-wing misinformation, announced that it has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission for targeting and harassing them.

The FTC announced an investigation into the watchdog last month, claiming it needed to see if the group unlawfully colluded with advertising advocacy groups to harm revenue from tech billionaire Elon Musk, The New York Times reported Monday.

According to a filing in a Washington, D.C. federal court, this is the third time that the organization has been forced to ask the court to "halt this 'government campaign of retaliation.'"

The filing goes on to allege that the FTC is using “sweeping governmental powers to attempt to silence and harass an organization for daring to speak the truth." It also reminded that the Constitution "prevents the government from punishing the exercise of free speech, as state governments and now a federal agency have employed sweeping governmental powers to attempt to silence and harass an organization for daring to speak the truth."

The suit alleges that the FTC harassment is likely coming as a reuslt of ongoing pressure from Musk and from Republican attorneys general closely allied with President Donald Trump. One of those, Ken Paxton of Texas, attempted to target the group, but was rebuffed by a federal appeals court in early June, Reuters reported.

Trump appointed Andrew Ferguson to the FTC chairmanship earlier this year. He announced that boycotts like the one announced among advertisers on X are a form of illegal censorship.

"An individual consumer’s choice of whether to patronize a certain business is a private action that does not raise any First Amendment issues," the Free Speech Center said in a 2024 piece on the topic. "Boycotts, however, are organized campaigns to influence other peoples’ choices. There is thus a tension between the First Amendment rights of boycott organizers to convince others to join their campaign of petitioning for change, and antitrust and restraint of trade laws intended to prohibit harmful economic manipulation, such as price fixing or conspiratorial behavior."

See the full filing below or at the link here.