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One of the more unsettling developments of Donald Trump’s second term involves the number of investigations that have been launched against Democrats and organizations affiliated with progressive politics. That includes Media Matters, a media watchdog organization, which found itself facing a Federal Trade Commission probe in late May.
This week, as The New York Times reported, the group pushed back — in court:
Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization, sued the Federal Trade Commission on Monday, claiming that the agency was waging a ‘campaign of retribution’ against the group on behalf of the Trump administration and Elon Musk. ... Media Matters said in its lawsuit that the Federal Trade Commission had employed ‘sweeping governmental powers to attempt to silence and harass an organization for daring to speak the truth.’
Media Matters’ filing argued that the FTC’s tactics were intended to restrict the organization’s First Amendment rights, and it asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to block the federal probe.
Angelo Carusone, Media Matters’ president, said in a statement, “The Trump administration has demonstrated that it will not hesitate to abuse the powers of the federal government to undermine the First Amendment and stifle dissent. This highly politicized FTC investigation is part of that playbook. This is a significant free speech issue, and Media Matters will not back down from this fight. If the Trump administration is allowed to use this unlawful investigation to punish legitimate reporting on behalf of a political ally, then there is nothing to stop it from targeting anyone who stands up and exercises their rights.”
For its part, the FTC hasn’t commented, but we have a sense of the agency’s perspective.
Indeed, when the commission opened its investigation last month, the Times reported that the FTC’s letter to Media Matters said it was exploring whether the organization “illegally colluded with advertisers.”
And this appears to be the heart of the matter. Trump’s top campaign donor, Elon Musk, first sued the progressive media watchdog a couple of years ago, raising similar allegations, accusing Media Matters of playing a role in advertisers steering clear of the Musk-owned social media platform. It was against this backdrop that the Trump administration not only launched an investigation into the group but also asked Media Matters to turn over all the documents related to Musk’s litigation.
I won’t pretend to know where all of this is headed, but it’s a case worth watching.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.