A provision in Florida's fiscal 2026 budget that prohibits state agencies from using taxpayer dollars to contract with advertising and marketing companies that use "media reliability or bias monitor services" is a protection from state-funded censorship, according to the Independent Media Council.
"This is a pivotal win for free speech and for the many Floridians who rely on independent voices to keep them informed," council spokeswoman Christine Czernejewski commented in a statement to Newsmax. "The state has sent a clear message: Florida will not bankroll censorship disguised as oversight."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the measure into law this week to prohibit contracts with monitoring services such as NewsGuard, Ad Fontes, and the Global Disinformation Index, or other contractors "whose primary or principal function is to rate or rank news and information services for the factual accuracy of their content," the law states.
Newsmax has reached out to NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media, and GDI for comment on the legislation.
Vanessa Otero, founder and CEO of Ad Fontes Media, said in a statement to Newsmax that her company is committed to not allowing the law, which she said has the "effect of discouraging the lawful and constitutionally protected business activities and chilling the speech of advertising agencies," to affect its operations.
"The public needs and deserves information about media source reliability and bias," she added.
As written, Otero said, the provision "likely infringes on the First Amendment political speech rights of private entities such as 'advertising agencies' or 'any other contractor'" using the services of a media bias or reliability monitor, as it prohibits private entities and contractors from expressing their rights to political speech while prohibiting their use of media ratings firms under the threat of withholding business contracts.
"The provision is so broad it would apply to advertising agencies who use media ratings firms on behalf of other clients who are not the government," she said. "This legislation may have the effect of discouraging the lawful and constitutionally protected business activities and chilling the speech of advertising agencies."
The law states that the company rankings can be for content from all media, including online, print, or "any other way news is delivered to the public," but does not include contractors that rate media outlets for audience size or other demographic information, or companies that aggregate news sources for purposes of public awareness.
"This is just the beginning," Czernejewski said. "Other states should follow Florida's lead to ensure taxpayer dollars are not used to silence content creators who don't agree with a far-left agenda."
The IMC, which is a group of conservative and independent media outlets and aligned organizations that stand for free speech and a free press, added in its statement that Florida is signaling with the law that state ad buys are to inform the general public, not filter them so conservative viewers can't observe them.
"This victory follows growing concern about the role of government in policing news content and comes amid national scrutiny of content-rating services that impose ideological filters under the guise of fact-checking," the council said, adding that it reflects the "mounting pushback" against the use of public funds supporting platforms or services that support censorship.
It follows the federal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which included a section preventing the Pentagon from the use of ad agencies that use "misinformation monitors" in the placement of military recruitment ads.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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