This Week at a Glance 🔎
🇺🇲 FCC Chair Warns Broadcasters Over “Fake Polls”
🇧🇷 Lula Promises to Regulate Social Media
🇬🇷 Greece Bans Social Media for Under-15s
🇫🇷 France Reportedly Prepared Social Media Shutdowns Amid Protests
⚽ China Retaliates Against Kylian Mbappé for speech
First of All 🇺🇲
» FCC Chair Warns Broadcasters Over “Fake Polls”
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr warned broadcasters to avoid “amplifying or airing” fake polls.
Details:
President Donald Trump has repeatedly blasted “fake polls.”
Carr signaled a possible prohibition on airing “fake” polls, as covered in a previous Free Flow.
A group called Wedgewood Polls published fake midterm polls to test whether media outlets would report them.
Carr then issued his warning, saying broadcasters’ licenses bar news distortion and hoaxes. The FCC’s lone Democrat, Anna Gomez, said these rules don’t apply to stations that report data in good faith.
Our Take: Ashkhen Kazaryan argued that as Americans head into the midterm elections, “They have a right to know what their fellow Americans think — and even the flaws in how the media might report those opinions — without a federal regulator chilling the press and deciding what polling numbers are allowed.”
» Maryland Judge Blocks Book Removal
A Maryland judge struck down a school board’s removal of “Flamer” from Harford County high schools, the first court test of the state’s Freedom to Read Act.
Details:
“Flamer” explores masculinity and homophobia in a 1990s coming-of-age story.
In 2024, a parent accused the book of planting “seeds in the minds of children” and sought its removal. The county’s reconsideration committee decided against removing it.
In 2025, the county school board overrode the committee’s decision, making “Flamer” the first book to be removed after the district created a book review process.
Parents appealed the board’s decision to the state board of education, which sided with the reconsideration committee, calling the decision arbitrary.
The county school board filed for an administrative appeal before a circuit court judge.
Judge Yolanda Curtin said the board violated Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act, which prohibits library removals for political, religious, or personal views.
The Digital Age 🤖
» Newly Reelected President Lula Vows to Regulate Social Media
Reelected Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised to regulate social media in his Oct. 25 victory speech.
Details:
He said online crime must be treated like offline crime, and accused tech giants of paying no taxes in Brazil and trying to manipulate elections.
He has not announced a draft law or timetable.
» Florida AG Proposes Online Age Restrictions
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier proposed the Safe Screens Act to restrict app downloads, AI chatbots, and social media for minors.
The Act:
Requires age determination and parental consent for minors to download or buy apps.
Imposes protective design features on accounts for users between 14 and 17 years old.
Prohibits chatbots from “providing minors features that simulate companionship, encourage harm, generate sexual content, or claim to be human.”
Relies on the age-range model Apple and Google already deploy at the operating system level.
Imposes fines of up to $50,000 per violation.
Context:
The proposal comes after a court stayed an injunction against Meta demanding the removal of what the state considers “addictive features” that contribute to body-image problems.
The state rejected the $17 billion multistate settlement Meta agreed to in August, choosing to pursue further litigation.
Uthmeier said the Act goes further than HB 3, the current law banning social media accounts for under-14s.
The Brussels Effect: Europe and Beyond 🇪🇺
» Greece Bans Social Media for Under-15s
Greece’s parliament passed a ban on social media for under-15s, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Details:
Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence Minister Dimitris Papastergiou said lawmakers cannot wait for Brussels to pass “the perfect European law.”
“Let’s send the message that the problem of uncontrolled internet use — which leads children to addiction at the expense of their mental health — cannot continue,” he added.
He also backed the state’s “Kids Wallet,” an age-verification app, assuring it “does not provide any personal data whatsoever about children or users other than whether they are over or under 15 years of age.”
» France Reportedly Prepared Social Media Shutdowns
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu reportedly asked four telecom providers to prepare for a temporary shutdown of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and X ahead of planned Oct. 24 and 25 protests, per investigative outlet Blast.
Details:
In a letter on Oct. 22, Lecornu asked Orange, SFR, Free, and Bouygues Telecom to prepare domain name system (DNS) filtering to suspend access to the platforms for several hours.
Lecornu cited concerns about the coordination of violence on social media.
The shutdown was never activated. Operators reportedly questioned feasibility and warned about VPN workarounds.
Separately, the government confirmed submitting more than 100 reports to platforms ahead of the demonstrations, with around half resulting in account suspensions.
» ECtHR Rules San Marino Violated a Facebook User’s Speech Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that San Marino violated a woman’s free expression rights when a judge revived her criminal conviction for a Facebook comment.
Context:
In 2021, Ingrid Casali commented on a news article about San Marino’s health minister receiving a domestic violence award.
Casali said she was “astonished” the award went “to a man who was on trial for violence against a woman.”
Court records revealed the minister had no prior cases involving violence against women but had faced criminal proceedings for brawl and bodily harm.
Casali was convicted of damaging the honor of a public official and given a suspended four-month sentence, which was upheld on a January 2024 appeal.
San Marino’s Third Instance Judge overturned the conviction in June 2024, finding the post was political criticism with a sufficient factual basis.
The minister petitioned the Judge for Extraordinary Remedies, who annulled the acquittal in October 2024 without remanding the case, reinstating the conviction.
The Ruling:
The ECtHR ruled the extraordinary judge was not a “tribunal established by law.”
Because that court revived the conviction, the interference with freedom of expression was not “prescribed by law” and violated Article 10 of the Convention.
San Marino must pay Casali 5,000 euros in damages and 19,000 euros in costs.
Free Speech Recession 🌍
» China Retaliates Against Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid and La Liga
The government-owned China Media Group (CMG) vowed to stop broadcasting soccer matches with Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé after he referred to Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China and leader of the Chinese Communist Party, as a “dictator.”
Details:
On a podcast, Mbappé referenced an online meme of his face on an image that resembled Mao, saying “it’s the one where there’s a video of a guy, I think it’s a Chinese dictator.”
Mbappé also commented on the meme in an interview, saying it was partly funny, and partly not, “because we know the damage this genre of people have caused throughout history.”
Three major Chinese brands cut ties with the athlete, and the state broadcaster suspended coverage of La Liga matches, as well as advertisements with Mbappé.
CMG said Mbappé’s comments “exceeded the scope of freedom of speech,” rejecting Real Madrid’s explanation.
Mbappé, Real Madrid, and the president of La Liga all issued apologies.
The Chinese market reportedly accounts for about 15% of the team’s global sales.
Our Take: At our 2026 Global Free Speech Summit, Ge Chen explained how China exports censorship beyond its borders, pointing to backlash from Chinese broadcasters and sponsors after an NBA executive tweeted support for Hong Kong protesters. China rarely needs to export law, Chen argued, because companies relying on its market access absorb its speech restrictions.
» UK Arrests 3,850+ Since Palestine Action Ban
More than 3,850 people have been arrested for publicly backing Palestine Action since it became a proscribed terrorist organization in the United Kingdom in July 2025.
Details:
Palestine Action is a direct-action group protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza.
In June, the Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling that found the proscription unlawful, as covered in a previous Free Flow.
On Nov. 4 and 5, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori will appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
The government argues the group’s history of break-ins and criminal damage at defense sites, as covered in a previous Free Flow, warrants the proscription.
» Thousands Protest Turkey’s Media Crackdown
On Oct. 24, thousands rallied in Istanbul and Ankara to protest growing pressure on journalists in Turkey.
Details:
The Turkish Journalists’ Union reported 11 journalist arrests in the past two months and the shuttering of several media outlets.
Police also raided Halk TV earlier this month, and the social media accounts of T24 news were blocked over “LGBT propaganda,” as covered in a previous Free Flow.
According to a police count, at least 3,000 protesters gathered in Istanbul and Ankara.
» Tajik Activist Gets 17 Years After German Deportation
A Tajik court sentenced opposition activist Asadullo Boboev to 17 years on three charges including “extremism through the internet,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported.
Details:
Boboev, who lived in Germany, belonged to the Reforms and Development of Tajikistan movement, which is critical of President Emomali Rahmon.
A court sentenced him on Sept. 21 over social media posts criticizing Tajik authorities, according to a media report. Tajik authorities haven’t published information on the case.
Germany deported him prior to its July 1 deadline to prove there is a case against him in Tajikistan.
Germany has deported three other activists since 2023. All were imprisoned in Tajikistan for 7 to 10 years, HRW said.
» Azerbaijan Requests Sentences of 11+ Years for Journalists
Azerbaijan prosecutors requested prison sentences of 11 years or more for Meclis.info reporters over alleged violations of foreign funding laws.
Details:
The prosecutors requested 12 years for founder Imran Aliyev and 11 years for data analyst Elgiz Gahraman.
The trio was charged with illegal entrepreneurship and money laundering, tax evasion, document forgery, and use of forged documents.
Authorities say the outlet failed to comply with a law that requires pre-approval of foreign grants.
Meclis.info is among four leading independent media outlets targeted over alleged unlawful funding.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Azerbaijani laws permit fines in similar cases, but not criminal sanctions.
Aliyev was arrested in April 2024 on currency smuggling charges alongside a wave of other journalists. He said he was beaten and electrocuted.
A verdict is expected on Nov. 3.
Ashley Haek is a Communications Manager at The Future of Free Speech.
Ajdin Muratovic is the Director of Communications at The Future of Free Speech and the Managing Editor of The Bedrock Principle.