Free Press Action Fund

Future of the internet: continued work on availability, access and affordability of broadband internet nationwide. Lauded the broadband equity, access, and deployment (bead) program, which will help all 50 states build high-speed internet networks in communities that lack access. Mobilized hundreds of organizations from across the political spectrum, including leading civil-rights, community-media, media-justice, workers-rights and consumer-advocacy groups to demand public interest-oriented service and leaders at the federal communications commission. Continued to expose the consequences to millions of people lacking access to affordable broadband services, when access to health care, schooling, work and so much more depends on a reliable connection. Lobbied for equitable use of broadband related funding contained in the 2021 infrastructure act, and urged congress to pass the affordable connectivity program (acp) extension act, which would keep 23 million us families connected through the end of 2024. Urged lawmakers to invest in the program long term and make the acp permanent. Worked with more than 170 social-justice, environmental, faith, health and labor groups to urge key policymakers to implement lifesaving bans on utility disconnections, ramp up renewable energy and resilient water systems, and phase out fossil fuels, the root cause of extreme heat.

Future of journalism: continued to work in and with communities so people have a strong voice in how local news can be revived, strengthened and transformed. Promoted policies that will boost media ownership among women and people of color and create opportunities for local media owners who are committed to actually serving their communities. Defended a Free Press and urged protections for journalists. Published crumbs for California: how a bill to 'save journalism' would enrich big media and harm community news outlets a report that analyzes the negative impact that the proposed California journalism preservation act (cjpa) would cause. Testified before the California senate judiciary committee to oppose passage of the cjpa which would reward the media conglomerates and hedge funds that have destroyed local news and make it harder for small community-centered newsrooms to survive. Urged lawmakers to consider better options such as a publicly funded nonprofit modeled on the new jersey civic information consortium which we helped create. Celebrated the creation of a new $25-million state-funded program at the university of California, berkeley designed to strengthen local reporting in underserved and underrepresented areas across the state. Supported the California reparations task force recommendations that the state create a black media reparative Fund. This recommendation drew on Free Press Action research and advocacy. This task force's historic report is the first state-level study of reparations.

Democracy and digital civil rights: continued highlighting the role of social media companies in the perpetuation of hoaxes, disinformation, and hate speech and the impact to society and especially to marginalized communities, women, and people of color. Provided information to our members on proposed legislation including: eliminating bias in algorithmic systems act; protect elections from deceptive ai act; real political advertisements act; government surveillance reform act of 2023; and the algorithmic justice and online transparency act. Lobbied for passage of the fourth amendment is not for sale act, which would prevent law enforcement and intelligence agencies from obtaining subscriber or customer records in exchange for anything of value, to address communications and records in the possession of intermediary internet service providers. Celebrated a major legal victory when the supreme court rejected arguments that could have invalidated section 230, a law that shields platforms from liability for content their users create and post. Issued major report: insatiable: the tech industry's quest for all our data, that looks at how the growth of new social-media platforms is highlighting the need for more robust consumer protections to safeguard data privacy in the united states. Hosted a capitol hill briefing that focused on the harms that privacy violations, digital redlining, hate speech and disinformation pose for people of color and others who experience online discrimination. Organized a delegation of organizations to meet with six congressional offices in Washington and invited allies to discuss issues related to social-media platforms, including rampant disinformation, language disparities in content moderation, government surveillance reform, the civil-rights implications of ai and the need for data-privacy legislation.

Free Press Action Fund conducts education, organizing and mobilizing efforts to support our members to advocate for better media, open technology and a healthier democracy. Areas of focus include network neutrality, affordable connections, online privacy, corporate and government surveillance, journalism, public media, media consolidation and media diversity, and government transparency and accountability. In 2023 Free Press Action continued to build a strong citizen movement for better media in the u.s by providing education, resources and networking opportunities for our members. Our members acted more than 250,000 times to sign petitions and make phone calls to their local, state and federal elected leaders. Free Press Action filed public comments, participated in several federal communications commission and federal trade commission proceedings and published recommended policies related to internet, journalism, public media and disinformation. We garnered 700 hits in outlets including the associated Press, cnn, the guardian, nbc, the new york times, npr, reuters, time and the Washington post. We secured financial support from 1,417 unique donors. Total program expenditures are detailed in the three core program areas above: