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New York Times’ crowd-sourced examples of election-related misinformation surfaces over 4,000 examples of fraudulent or misleading content online ahead of the midterms. Amid widespread voter suppression in Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp accuses state Democrats, without evidence, of ‘cybercrime’ and attempting to ‘hack’ the state’s voter registration system. Supreme Court rejects an appeal from the telecommunications industry to overturn a lower court ruling in favor of the ‘net neutrality’ rules. Debate between Atlantic senior editor David Frum and far-right populist Steve Bannon demonstrates the complex challenges around inviting and debating those with views and intentions detrimental to the conditions that make free expression possible for all. Filmmaker Barry Jenkins, who received PEN America’s Award for Screenplay Excellence at the LitFest Gala in Los Angeles, tells The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I think as screenwriters, we have this complex that we’re not real writers. To have the work recognized by an organization like this, just means the world to me.’ -Anoosh Gasparian, External Relations Manager

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

U.S.

We Asked for Examples of Election Misinformation. You Delivered.
Two months ago, The New York Times asked readers to send in examples of election-related misinformation they saw online. Readers responded. In all, more than 4,000 examples of misinformation were submitted to from social media feeds, text-messaging apps, and email accounts.
NEW YORK TIMES

Stacey Abrams Condemns Brian Kemp after He Accuses Democrats of Voter ‘Hack’
The Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, Stacey Abrams, said her Republican opponent had “abused his power,” a day after Brian Kemp, who is also Georgia’s secretary of state, announced an unexplained investigation into alleged “cybercrime” by the state Democratic party.
THE GUARDIAN

Supreme Court Rejects Net Neutrality Appeal
The Supreme Court rejected appeals from the telecommunications industry seeking to throw out a lower court ruling in favor of the “net neutrality” rules. The Federal Communications Commission under President Trump has rolled back the rules, but the industry also wanted to wipe the court ruling off the books.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Real Lesson of My Debate With Steve Bannon
“Forceful interruption of public events is almost always wrong. … In a free society, there can be no equivalent of the Saudi religious police, monitoring public behavior and discourse and interrupting things of which they disapprove. Yet the illegitimacy of violent interruptions of debate in general does not of itself justify any particular debate in specific.”
THE ATLANTIC

Barry Jenkins, Marti Noxon Celebrate Freedom of Speech at the PEN America LitFest Gala
Taking place in the troubling shadow of the recent murder of Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the demonization of and recent baiting calls for violence against the free press, the annual celebration of free speech had a more somber tone, and those being feted made certain to acknowledge just how precious their right to express themselves in book, poem, screenplay, and other written forms feels.
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

 
Global

Khashoggi Sons Issue Emotional Appeal for the Return of Their Father’s Body *PEN Case List: Find Out More
“All what we want right now is to bury him in Al-Baqi (cemetery) in Medina (Saudi Arabia) with the rest of his family,” Salah Khashoggi said. “I talked about that with the Saudi authorities and I just hope that it happens soon.”
CNN

Reuters Reporters in Myanmar Appeal against Conviction in State Secrets Case *PEN Case List: Find Out More
“We filed an appeal … because the trial court’s ruling was wrong,” said Reuters President and Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Adler. “In condemning them as spies, it ignored compelling evidence of a police set-up, serious due process violations, and the prosecution’s failure to prove any of the key elements of the crime.”
REUTERS

Russia Locked Him Up. But He’s Directing an Opera 1,400 Miles Away. *PEN Case List: Find Out More
Despite his imprisonment, Kirill Serebrennikov directed a production of Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte”—located in Zürich. He has been under house arrest since August 2017 awaiting trial on corruption charges that are widely considered to be trumped up.
NEW YORK TIMES

Pussy Riot Joins With Democracy Activists to Call for Greater Freedoms in Hong Kong
Donning the band’s signature balaclavas, two members of Pussy Riot—Olga Kurachyova and Veronika Nikulshina—assembled with others in Hong Kong to call for greater freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory and denounce the scrapping of an exhibition by Badiucao.
TIME

4 Ways World Leaders Have Echoed Trump’s Words and Policies
President Trump has used that platform to spread his populist message through language often shorn of diplomatic niceties and demeaning of his opponents. And his language has been picked up by a number of leaders in other countries to offer justification of their own actions and to promote like-minded policies.
NEW YORK TIMES

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]