Ron DeSantis has his next target in his sights: freedom of the press | Trevor Timm

Florida's rightwing governor and legislature want to gut one of the United States' most important first amendment rulings

Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, and his cronies, not content with destroying free speech in public schools, have set for themselves a new target: destroying press freedom and every Floridian's right to criticize public officials. Along the way, they aim to overturn the most important first amendment US supreme court decision of the 20th century.

The latest bill to raise eyebrows sounds like it's made up by the opponents of Florida Republicans to make them sound ridiculous. Unfortunately, it's real. The proposed law, authored by state legislator Jason Brodeur, would - I kid you not - compel bloggers" who criticize the governor, other officers of the executive branch, or members of the legislature to register with the state of Florida. Under the bill, anyone paid to write on the internet would have to file monthly reports every time they utter a government official's name in a critical manner. If not, they'd face potentially thousands of dollars in fines.

Kill off a large part of Florida's journalist shield bill", which protects reporters from being forced to testify in court.

Presume any news report written with anonymous sources is defamation.

Roll back Florida's anti-Slapp law, which ironically protects little guys" like independent newspapers when they are sued by wealthy individuals for the primary purpose of bankrupting them.

Weaken the actual malice" standard from Sullivan, to make it easier for public officials to sue newspapers or critics.