Ken Paxton’s Subpoena To 404 Media Shows How MAGA World Is Already Harassing Journalists

You ain’t seen nothing yet regarding how some MAGA politicians are going to harass and attack journalists. This week, it was revealed that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (who already has a history of trying to punish speech he dislikes) had issued a subpoena to 404 Media, an independent, journalist-owned-and-run news site that we link to frequently, in a blatant attempt to intimidate and harass them for their reporting.

Paxton is seeking 404 Media reporting materials and documents related to an internal Google privacy incident database that 404 Media reported on in June. He has demanded these documents as part of a broader lawsuit against Google that claims the company has violated a Texas biometric privacy law that has nothing to do with 404 Media.

As 404 Media notes, Paxton could have easily sought this information directly from Google itself rather than targeting journalists. The fact that he chose to subpoena 404 Media instead strongly suggests his true motive is intimidation, not legitimate fact-finding.

At the time, we did not publish the full database because it contains the personal information of potentially thousands of Google customers and employees, and cannot be reasonably redacted. The subpoena threatens to hold us in contempt of court if we do not comply with its subpoena. 

Friday, our lawyers objected to the subpoena on the grounds that it is “oppressive” and because our confidential reporting is protected under the California Shield Law (404 Media is incorporated as Dark Mode LLC in the state of California). “The information and materials sought by the Subpoena are absolutely protected from compelled disclosure by the California Shield Law,” our attorneys wrote. “Dark Mode further objects to the Subpoena on the grounds that it calls for the disclosure of unpublished information that is independently protected from compelled disclosure under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 2(a) of the California Constitution.”

Simply put: If Ken Paxton wants Google’s privacy incident database, he should get it directly from Google, not from us.

This subpoena appears to be nothing more than an attempt to intimidate and harass journalists for reporting on matters of public interest. Really, this is just another example of harassing journalists with legally threatening nonsense.

As 404 notes, they’re using California’s Shield Law to protect their sources and unpublished materials.

This incident underscores the importance of strong legal protections for journalists, like shield laws. It’s worth noting that a federal shield law, the PRESS Act, had widespread bipartisan support until Donald Trump told Republicans to kill it. Apparently, Republicans only like press freedom when it applies to their favored parts of the media ecosystem. Without such protections, politically motivated harassment of the press, like Paxton’s subpoena, becomes much easier.

In the end, this is yet another example of Republicans who publicly claim they’re all about supporting free speech, then turning around and using the power of the state to harass and attack speech they dislike. It’s rank hypocrisy, and we must call it out as such.