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A claim by the Texas secretary of state about the citizenship status of 95,000 registered voters–much amplified, including by President Trump–is countered by local elections officials who find to the contrary. Of the tweets sent since Trump announced his candidacy, more than 11 percent targeted journalists, their outlets, or the news media as a whole, a new study finds. Democrats again introduce legislation that would block funding for Trump’s executive order that restricts travel from certain Muslim-majority countries. Chicago police say actor Jussie Smollett was attacked by two people who yelled racial and homophobic slurs and put a rope around his neck. -Dru Menaker, Chief Operating Officer

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

U.S.

Texas Official’s Claim About Citizenship of 95,000 Is Called Into Doubt
A claim made by the Texas secretary of state—that 95,000 registered voters had a citizenship status that could not be determined—appeared to fall apart when local election officials said many of the people were known to be U.S. citizens.
NEW YORK TIMES

From Fake News to Enemy of the People: An Anatomy of Trump’s Tweets
Since announcing his candidacy in the 2016 presidential elections to the end of his second year in office, U.S. President Donald Trump has sent 1,339 tweets about the media that were critical, insinuating, condemning, or threatening.
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS

Democrats Want to Defund President Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’
Democrats in the House and Senate have again introduced legislation seeking to block funding for President Trump’s executive order restricting travel from certain countries, which has been widely criticized as a “Muslim ban.”
ROLL CALL

Jussie Smollett, Star of ‘Empire,’ Attacked in What Police Call a Possible Hate Crime
Jussie Smollett, one of the stars of the Fox television show “Empire,” was attacked in Chicago yesterday morning by two people who yelled racial and homophobic slurs and wrapped a rope around his neck, according to the police.
NEW YORK TIMES

 
Global

Australian Yang Hengjun’s Access to Lawyers in Limbo
China’s state security agency has failed to respond to an application by human rights lawyers to access Australian blogger Yang Hengjun, who is detained in Beijing and under investigation for espionage.
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Meet the Iranian Influencers Whose Livelihoods Will Be Stripped Away by a Ban on Instagram
Authorities say the anticipated move is to block immoral and obscene content, but critics say it’s a naked attempt to crack down on one of the last remaining areas of online freedom for Iranians, especially for women and other marginalized groups.
BUZZFEED NEWS

Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine Restored in China
The outage caused concern that the service might have been blocked by the Chinese authorities. Microsoft did not offer any explanation for why the search engine had been inaccessible.
BBC NEWS

Online Abuse, Harassment, Cyber Trolling Costing Australians $3.7 Billion
“I knew these figures would be big, because a lot of cyber-hate victims had told me that they’d shelled out loads of cash and that they’d missed a lot of work, but I was frankly shocked that the numbers were so big.”
ABC NEWS

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