News Outlets Reject Pentagon Press Policy & Belgium Concert Banned Over Singer’s Support for Israel | The Free Flow 10/16/25
The U.S. State Department revokes six visas over Kirk comments, a man who burned a Quran wins a free speech appeal, a Togolese activist is arrested amid warnings of social media abuse, and more.
This Week At A Glance 🔎
— 🇺🇲 State Department Revokes Six Visas Over Kirk Comments
— 🇹🇬 Togolese Activist Arrested, Authorities Warn Against Social Media Abuse
— 🇹🇭 Australian Researcher Claims Thailand Arrested Him for Criticism
— 🇪🇺 EU Plans to Crackdown on LGBTQ+ Hate and Conversion Therapy
— 🇬🇧 Quran Burner Wins Free Speech Appeal
First of All 🇺🇲
» Visas Revoked Over Charlie Kirk Comments
On October 14, the State Department announced that it had revoked the visas of six foreigners after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last month.
Details:
Officials deemed the comments to be derisive or trivializing of the tragedy.
“Aliens who take advantage of America’s hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed,” the State Department said.
The move is the latest in a series of actions taken against people for their comments about Kirk, including firings and disciplinary actions against teachers, journalists, and others.
» MIT Rejects White House Campus Speech Compact
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology President has refused to sign the White House’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” a list of operating principles sent to nine universities for them to agree to in exchange for federal grants and benefits.
Context:
MIT’s statement said the document “includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution.”
Schools have been asked to provide feedback on the Compact by October 20.
The remaining eight universities have yet to respond. However, students and faculty have urged several to reject the compact, with the Faculty Senates of both Vanderbilt University and the University of Virginia denouncing the offer.
Dartmouth College President Sian Beilock affirmed the institution’s commitment to “fierce independence” and “academic freedom” in a statement, but did not clarify whether the college had agreed to the compact.
For more details on the compact, see last week’s Free Flow.
» All Major News Outlets Reject New Pentagon Journalist Policy
All major news organizations said they will not sign the Pentagon’s revised press pass policy, which requires journalists to pledge not to gather information that has not been expressly authorized for release, as mentioned in a previous Free Flow.
Details:
The New York Times, Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, NPR, The Hill, Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and more have refused to sign the policy.
Notably, conservative-leaning outlets NewsMax, Washington Times, and The Washington Examiner also stated they would not sign the pledge.
Only one media outlet, One America News, has said it will agree to the terms.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded to several news outlets’ posts opposing the restrictions with a goodbye emoji and said, “Pentagon access is a privilege, not a right.”
The Pentagon Press Association argued the restrictions appear “designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs.”
» Facebook Removes Group Page Targeting ICE ‘Following Outreach’ from DOJ
Meta has removed a Facebook group page dedicated to tracking Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in Chicago following outreach from the Justice Department.
Details:
In an X post, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.”
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the group “was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm.”
This comes after Apple removed the ICEBlock app, which allows users to share sightings of ICE agents, after receiving a similar nudge from the Justice Department.
A day later, Google removed a similar app, Red Dot, from its Play Store.
Our Take: Without proper court discovery, we probably won’t know if the DOJ’s “outreach” to Meta crossed the line from persuasion into coercion. But the Trump’s DOJ use of these informal tools to suppress speech they don’t like (that is First Amendment protected) sure does look like jawboning. — Ashkhen Kazaryan
» California Governor Vetoes SB 771
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have imposed fines of up to $1 million on social media platforms for algorithmically recommending content that violated the state’s civil rights laws in a way that harmed the users, and doubled penalties if the person harmed was a minor.
Details: In his veto, Newsom said the bill, SB771, was “premature” and “our first step should be to determine if, and to what extent, existing civil rights laws are sufficient to address violations perpetrated through algorithms.”
Our Take: In a post on The Bedrock Principle, Ashkhen Kazaryan said SB771 “sets a dangerous precedent: that a state can impose crushing liability on private actors for failing to sufficiently sanitize their public forums (in a manner that a specific state wants them to), even when the offending speech is constitutionally protected.” In response to this development, she added, “Governor Newsom’s veto was the right call both constitutionally and policy-wise. The bill’s attempt to create massive liability on platforms for how algorithms relay user-generated content would have led to overmoderation and the chilling of speech for marginalized voices.”
» California Governor Signs Bill to Target Antisemitism in Classrooms
On October 7, Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 715, creating a state Office for Civil Rights to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination in California schools.
Context:
Set to take effect on January 1, the law requires teachers to be “factually accurate” in their lessons and to adhere to unspecified “standards of professional responsibility.”
The law also creates an “antisemitism prevention coordinator” who would consult with schools and districts.
Newsom also signed Senate Bill 48, a companion bill that created four additional coordinator positions that would advise on discrimination based on religious beliefs, race and ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation.
The Digital Age 🤖
» Ex-Cop Arrested in TN and Held on $2 Million Bond for Posting Charlie Kirk Meme
Larry Bushart, a 61-year-old Tennessean and former police officer, was arrested and held on a $2 million bond for a Facebook post where he responded to a post about an upcoming vigil for Charlie Kirk with an image of President Trump’s response to a school shooting.
Details:
The photo of Trump included a quote he made in January 2024 after a school shooting at Iowa’s Perry High School: “We have to get over it,” with his own caption, “This seems relevant today.”
On September 21, Bushart wrote on Facebook that Lexington PD had visited him regarding his “posted memes.”
Sheriff Nick Weems of Perry County, Tennessee, said Bushart’s post had been interpreted by “numerous... teachers, parents, and students” as a threat to carry out a similar shooting at the nearby Perry County High School.
Bushart was arrested on a charge of Threats of Mass Violence on School Property and Activities, a felony punishable by one to six years in prison and up to a $3,000 fine.
Bushart has posted several other memes, but Weems singled out this particular post as the offender, noting that his others were “not against the law and would be recognized as free speech.”
The meme was not created by Bushart and had been posted numerous times across multiple social media platforms since 2024, with no connection to him.
» Togolese Activist Arrested, Authorities Warn of Social Media Abuse
Togolese blogger and activist Grace Koumayi Biyoki was arrested and detained on charges of “inciting revolt” and “attempting to undermine state security” after posting videos criticizing authorities and economic difficulties in Togo.
Context:
The same day, Togo’s public prosecutor, Talaka Mawama, threatened legal action against posts and comments deemed critical of the regime during a press briefing.
“Anyone who produces, reproduces, publishes, or shares content outside the legal framework will face prosecution,” Mawama said.
» Australian Researcher Alleges Thailand Arrested Him Over Criticism
Murray Hunter, a 66-year-old Australian scholar, was arrested in Thailand on a defamation charge, which he says originated with Malaysia’s government over articles he had written about the country a year earlier.
Details:
In 2024, Hunter wrote articles for his online Substack newsletter that criticized Malaysian institutions from his home in southern Thailand.
The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said it lodged police reports in 2024 in both Malaysia and Thailand against Hunter, as well as a domestic civil lawsuit, over his writing.
Hunter was arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, jailed overnight, and released on 20,000 baht ($620) bail, which the MCMC claims he understood was for non-compliance with summonses linked to the investigation.
Hunter maintains that one summons was delivered to his home while he was on an extended stay in another region of Thailand, and that local police where he was residing advised him that the forwarded copy was a scam.
“If this can happen to me, any journalists now, where a body in another country makes a complaint against them to the Thai police, could have the same consequences,” Hunter said.
The defamation charge against him is punishable by a maximum prison term of 2 years and a fine equivalent to $6,180.
The Brussels Effect: Europe and Beyond 🇪🇺
» EU to Crackdown on LGBTQ+ Hate and Conversion Therapy
At an October 8 press conference, the Commissioner for Equality, Hadja Lahbib, presented the “LGBTIQ+ Strategy for 2026-2030” to combat hate against the community and boost efforts to ban conversion therapy.
Context:
Although the new strategy is not legally binding, it will develop a plan to target cyberbullying and offline speech, and the EU is considering legislation to standardize the definition of online hate offenses.
The strategy follows a successful push in Slovakia to enshrine that there are only two genders into the constitution and ban surrogacy and adoption for same-sex couples.
It also follows the passage of anti-LBGTQ+ laws and attempts to ban Budapest Pride parades in Hungary.
Half of EU countries currently have a national strategy for LGBTQ+ equality, and eight countries have banned conversion therapy, with the Netherlands considering a ban of its own.
Across the Atlantic, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering overturning Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy.
» Belgium Concert Banned Over Singer’s Support for Israel
The heavy metal band Disturbed was scheduled to perform in Brussels, Belgium, before the municipality’s mayor canceled the show, citing “security risks.”
Details:
Charles Spapes, the mayor of Forest, said the singer David Draiman’s support of Israel presented safety concerns and “fears of escalating protests.”
Spapens lobbied for the event’s cancellation months earlier, pointing to a photo taken during the singer’s trip to Israel of him singing an IDF bomb with the words “Fuck Hamas.”
“This is about a man who signed a bomb that was dropped on Gaza. We do not support the presence of this artist, and even less so his position on Gaze,” Spapens said, calling the concert a “moral problem.”
Free Speech Recession 🌍
» UK Quran Burner Wins Free Speech Appeal
Hamit Coskun, a man who was fined for burning the Quran outside London’s Turkish consulate, has won his appeal against his conviction.
Details:
Coskun was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court of a religiously aggravated public order offense and fined £240 ($321), as highlighted in a previous Free Flow.
On October 10, a Southwark Crown Court overturned the conviction, and said the right to freedom of expression, “must include the right to express views that offend, shock or disturb.”
Our Take: Jacob Mchangama called this a welcome outcome and previously wrote about the case at UnHerd: “Coskun’s prosecution is just the latest example of the ‘jihadist’s veto,’ where violent threats or actual violence effectively criminalise criticism of Islam, even in secular democracies without formal blasphemy laws.”
Ashley Haek is a communications coordinator and research assistant at The Future of Free Speech.
Ashkhen Kazaryan is a Senior Legal Fellow at The Future of Free Speech, where she leads initiatives to protect free expression and shape policies that uphold the First Amendment in the digital age.