Woodhull Reacts to President Trump’s Promise to Protect Free Speech in Executive Order
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — January 24, 2025 — Washington, DC
On Monday, January 20, 2025, within hours of being sworn into office, President Trump signed a flurry of Executive Orders. While there is much to be concerned about in these Orders, one caught our attention as a potential step in the right direction to rein in undue federal government pressures on businesses to censor speech, particularly in online spaces. President Trump’s Executive Order Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship has the stated purpose of ending federal government coercion against third parties, such as social media companies, to suppress speech that the federal government disfavors. As an organization defending sexual freedom, Woodhull Freedom Foundation supports efforts to end unconstitutional censorship of First Amendment-protected speech, including sexual expression.
Woodhull, along with other national organizations like the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, welcomes the new restrictions on federal government censorship of protected speech. We are, however, cautious in this support as the Executive Order is vague, and prior statements from President Trump have pointed towards his enthusiasm for restricting the speech of those he doesn’t politically align with. We therefore urge President Trump to implement this Executive Order in a manner that adheres to the protections enshrined in the First Amendment. This Order must be carried out ensuring protected speech is respected regardless of whether that speech is made by an individual or group that President Trump and those in his orbit agree with.
This Executive Order is also limited as it only extends to the federal government’s actions. We therefore implore states to recognize the critical role they play in protecting free speech and follow the guidance of this Order. In particular, Woodhull calls for the repeal of all age verification laws which state legislatures have passed and implemented throughout the country with dire impacts on free expression. In Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v Paxton, recently heard by the Supreme Court, the plaintiffs made a clear case for why age verification laws are unconstitutional and, if allowed to stand, would fundamentally change the landscape of free speech in this country. Woodhull supported this case by submitting a friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court urging the Justices to strike down Texas’ age verification law, HB 1181. This case is a prime example of how government interference, whether at the state or federal level, to get businesses to do the work of censoring speech online is unconstitutional and contradicts the foundational principles of the United States.
Woodhull CEO and President Ricci Joy Levy stated, “Freedom of expression is indivisible and must not be selectively protected based on the whims or desires of who is in the White House.” Levy went on to express, “At Woodhull, we are pleased to see that President Trump, through his Executive Order on free speech, is taking on censorship and promising to end federal government interference with businesses, particularly social media platforms, which chills speech and undermines freedom of expression, including sexual expression. We will monitor the implementation of this Executive Order to ensure it is applied fairly to address the rampant censorship we have seen directed at sexual expression, from book bans to restrictions on the legal adult industry, both during the Biden administration and Trump’s prior administration.”
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