Want to receive this digest in your inbox? To subscribe, simply click here and choose DARE: Daily Alert on Rights and Expression from the list.

The House Judiciary Committee begins a series of hearings on the power of Big Tech, including a consideration of a bill that would give media outlets collective bargaining power when negotiating agreements with Big Tech companies over ad revenue from their articles. Customs and Border Protection suffers a data breach that exposes the photos of thousands of travelers. The New York Times – Global Edition will stop running daily political cartoons. Scientists push back against the cost of access to research. Facebook turns off several advanced search features, concerning human rights researchers and journalists. -James Tager, Deputy Director of Free Expression Policy and Research

The most pressing threats and notable goings-on in free expression today

U.S.

Tech on Trial: House Panel Begins Review of Market Power
The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday will launch its investigation into the market dominance of Silicon Valley’s biggest names, starting with a look at the impact of the tech giants’ platforms on news content, the media, and the spread of misinformation online.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photos of Travelers Coming in and out of the U.S. Have Been Hacked and Stolen
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection subcontractor suffered a data breach that exposed the photos of tens of thousands of travelers coming in and out of the country, the agency revealed, in what it described as a “malicious cyber-attack.”
BUZZFEED NEWS

New York Times’s Global Edition Is Ending Daily Political Cartoons
The New York Times will no longer publish daily political cartoons in its international edition and ended its relationship with two contract cartoonists. Two months earlier, The Times had stopped running syndicated political cartoons, after one with anti-Semitic imagery was printed in the Opinion section of the international edition.
NEW YORK TIMES

The War to Free Science
The industry built to publish and disseminate scientific articles—companies such as Elsevier and Springer Nature—has managed to become incredibly profitable by getting a lot of taxpayer-funded, highly skilled labor for free and affixing a premium price tag to its goods.
VOX

Facebook Turned off Search Features Used to Catch War Criminals, Child Predators, and Other Bad Actors
Facebook turned off several features that have long been accessible via graph search, such as the ability to find public videos that a specific Facebook user was tagged in. This set off a wave of concern among human rights researchers, journalists, law enforcement, and other advanced users.
BUZZFEED NEWS

 
Global

Internet Blackout Hits Sudan Capital
Landline internet connections were down across Khartoum on Monday, creating a digital blackout in the Sudanese capital a week after mobile online services were largely cut following a deadly crackdown on protesters. Internet lines from the country’s main provider Sudatel stopped working in the early afternoon.
FRANCE 24

Prashant Kanojia: India Court Raps State for Jailing Reporter for Tweet
India’s Supreme Court has ordered the release of a journalist who was arrested and jailed for tweeting about Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday. Prashant Kanojia had shared a video of a woman who alleged that she had a relationship with Adityanath.
BBC NEWS

Ivan Golunov Arrest: Russian Reporter to Go Free After Public Outcry
Russia has dropped all charges against an investigative reporter accused of drug dealing, after a massive public outcry over the case. In a rare public show of support, Russian newspapers rallied around freelancer Ivan Golunov.
BBC NEWS *See PEN America’s statement on his arrest

Australia Is at War with Journalists
“The [Australian Federal Police] could have opted to serve subpoenas for the documents, but instead chose the two raids. … The inevitable dramatic pictures were intended to intimidate journalists and potential whistleblowers.”
WASHINGTON POST

Iran Revokes New York Times Reporter’s Credentials
The New York Times hasn’t been able to turn to its “man in Tehran” to cover flaring tensions between the U.S. and Iran since bureau chief Thomas Erdbrink was barred from reporting in the country four months ago, the paper said. Erdbrink’s last byline from Tehran was on February 12; he hasn’t tweeted since February 20.
POLITICO

DARE is a project of PEN America’s #LouderTogether campaign, bringing you a daily-curated roundup of the most important free expression-related news from the U.S. and abroad. Send your feedback and story suggestions to [email protected]