Opinion | The MAGA War on Speech
New York TimesFEB 25
Media Matters Sues FTC Over Investigation Into X Boycotts
Above: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) logo is displayed on the Constitution Center in June 2025, in Washington, D.C. Image copyright: Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Media Matters is fighting on behalf of every group the Trump administration has targeted, from banning AP journalists from the White House to stripping LGBTQ+ language from the National Park Service website. It's because Media Matters has taken a public stand against the far-right — using its platform to expose neo-Nazi content on the pro-Trump platform X — that the government has cracked down on the group so viciously.
Republican narrative
Media Matters is not a pro-free speech organization, but rather a propaganda outlet whose sole purpose is to rid the media ecosystem of the truth and fill the vacuum with liberal lies. From smearing X with the "neo-Nazi" label to lying about attacks against transgender youth, Media Matters, though illegal, defamatory methods, has singlehandedly poisoned the internet, for which it deserves to be investigated.