Free Speech

WASHINGTON, April 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to freeze grants to Brown University and separately set conditions that Harvard University must meet - including a mask ban and removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs - to receive federal money.

The Trump administration is taking aim at Brown University with threats to freeze $510m in grants, widening its promise to withhold federal funding from schools it accuses of allowing antisemitism on campus, according to multiple media outlets including Reuters and the New York Times.

University officials said they had not yet been formally notified, but the school was among dozens warned last month that enforcement actions could be coming as the administration seeks to crack down on academic institutions .

On March 24, a shadowy group that calls itself Canary Mission posted a new feature on its website, “Uncovering Foreign Nationals,” in response to President Trump’s recent executive order on combating antisemitism.

The group, which says its mission is to single out those who promote “hatred of the U.S.A., Israel and Jews on North American college campuses,” listed the names of seven students and academics, including three current and former professors at Columbia University.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is allegedly implicated in a vast, government-backed censorship scheme, according to internal documents obtained by law group America First Legal through ongoing litigation against the U.S. Department of State's Global Engagement Center (GEC).

A French scientist was denied entry to the US after immigration officials discovered 'hateful' text messages criticising Donald Trump on his phone.

More visitors to the United States are having their electronic devices and social media accounts checked when arriving at the border, raising questions about the legality of such a move.

A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration, said a French minister.

The French government’s claim that a scientist was denied entry into the United States because of an opinion he expressed about the Trump administration is “blatantly false,” a U.S. official has said.

India's IT ministry has unlawfully expanded censorship powers to allow the easier removal of online content and empowered "countless" government officials to execute such orders, Elon Musk's X has alleged in a new lawsuit against New Delhi.

The lawsuit and the allegations mark an escalation in an ongoing legal dispute between X and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government over how New Delhi orders content to be taken down. It also comes as Musk is getting closer to launching his other key ventures Starlink and Tesla in India.

As the Trump administration intensifies its battle with elite universities, one Ivy League school is lawyering up with a Trump ally.