Nina Jankowicz: Trump's ‘Censorship’ Executive Order is a Direct Assault on Reality

(Washington, D.C.)  American Sunlight Project (ASP) CEO Nina Jankowicz released the following statement in response to Trump’s day one Executive Order making America more vulnerable to disinformation:

“On day one, the Trump administration has cloaked an attack on reality as a ‘restoration’ of free speech. Let’s be clear: responding to disinformation is not ‘censorship’—it’s a vital safeguard against those who lie to erode our democracy and undermine trust in our institutions.

“As the Supreme Court made clear in its dismissal of Murthy v. Missouri, those who falsely alleged that the government, researchers, and tech companies were engaged in a censorship conspiracy “fail[ed]... to link their past social-media restrictions and the defendants’ communications with the platforms.” Yet the Trump administration and tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk continue to opportunistically repeat lies the conservative Supreme Court debunked.

“What Trump’s Executive Order on ‘Ending Federal Censorship’ really does is chill critical speech about bad actors who use disinformation as a tool to destabilize our country and profit from lies. Disinformation is not a partisan issue; it’s a democracy issue. America’s adversaries benefit when our country is internally divided and politically polarized. 

“That White House policy has canonized lies and conspiracy theories about those responding to disinformation further emboldens both foreign actors and disinformation profiteers who continue to pollute our information environment with falsehoods designed to enrage Americans and pit us against one another. Never one to break character, President Trump seeks vengeance for a slight that never happened.

“At the American Sunlight Project, we know the stakes have never been higher. Now that the President has openly intimidated those working to respond, the challenge will only get more pressing. We will continue our work and will continue to speak out, increasing the cost of lies that undermine democracy, exposing the sources that threaten our shared reality, and ensuring the public has access to the accurate information it needs to make informed decisions.”