Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a bill that includes a provision blocking state agencies from contracting with organizations that rate media bias and “misinformation,” Reclaim the Net reported.
“These monitoring groups purport to be impartial, but consistently skew their ratings to target conservative and independent media from receiving advertising from major brands,” the Independent Media Council (IMC) said in a press release. IMC is a group of conservative and independent media organizations that advocate for free speech and a free press.
Lawmakers inserted a provision into the Florida 2026 budget bill prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to contract “with an advertising agency or other contractor who acts as or uses the services of media reliability and bias monitors.”
The rule extends to any contractor whose primary function is to rate the factual accuracy, bias or potential for “misinformation” of news and information in any type of media. Examples include NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media and the Global Disinformation Index.
