Protect Democracy presents at Congressional spotlight forum on the FCC’s attacks on free speech

On September 29, 2025, Protect Democracy provided testimony at a Congressional spotlight hearing convened by Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Elizabeth Warren about the FCC’s pattern of attacking free speech and the free press. Protect Democracy counsel Conor Gaffney described how the FCC’s recent actions targeting journalists and comedians critical of the president with regulatory retaliation follows a strategy employed by aspiring autocrats around the world. 

“The abuses of the FCC’s authority are not merely ad hoc responses to unfavorable press coverage. Rather they follow a strategy employed by aspiring autocrats in Hungary, Poland, and other de-democratizing societies,” Gaffney told members of Congress. “The goal of this strategy is to eliminate independent media which both enables robust public discourse, and serves as a check on the government. This is part of a broader pattern of attacking civil society. By suppressing opposition speech and closing the civic space that enables citizens to organize, this strategy consolidates power around the autocratic figure or the ruling party.”

The entire hearing is available above.

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