Last Week(s) in Censorship: February 10-23, 2026

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The past two weeks of February 2026 revealed an administration increasingly focused on dismantling environmental protections, pressuring universities into ideological compliance, and continuing its onslaught on election integrity. While the headlines move fast, several developments this week signal a deep shift in how the federal government interacts with the public and how the courts are fighting back.

Administration to Begin Collecting Social Media Handles of Visa Applicants, Legal Immigrants, and U.S. Citizens

The Trump administration approved a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plan to collect social media handles from people applying to change their immigration status in their bid to fulfill Donald Trump’s executive order targeting vaguely-defined speech such as “hostile attitudes,” to American “culture,” and “hateful ideology.”. The new requirement, approved last week for one year, targets the more than 3 million people applying annually for work or travel authorization, green cards, or citizenship. Applicants must submit any handles used over the past five years across platforms like Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube, and also messaging services like WhatsApp and Telegram. The Brennan Center for Justice warns that these vague directives will create a climate of fear, chill free speech and undermine individual privacy by potentially revealing intimate personal details: in some cases, applicants will be required to provide the social media handles of their children, spouses, and parents (many of whom are U.S. citizens or otherwise already lawfully present in the country).

Unmasking Anonymous Online Critics

The Department of Homeland Security’s use of administrative subpoenas continues, with new reports of Google, Meta, Reddit, and Discord receiving demands for the identities of anonymous individuals who have criticized ICE operations online. The subpoenas require no judicial oversight—no judge reviews them, no probable cause is required, and targets are never notified. In one case, Google complied with a subpoena targeting student activist Amandla Thomas-Johnson, turning over not only identity information but credit card and bank account numbers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and ACLU sent an open letter urging tech companies to resist what they called the most aggressive government effort to pierce online anonymity in decades.

Trump Threatens Netflix Over Former NatSec Advisor Susan Rice

President Trump warned Netflix to remove Democratic foreign policy expert Susan Rice from its board or “face the consequences,” on social media, reacting to an X post by alt-right provocateur Laura Loomer. Trump called Rice, who served in the Obama and Biden administrations, a “political hack” with “no talent or skills.” The threat comes at a particularly fragile time for Netflix as it seeks federal regulatory approval for an $83 billion deal to acquire a large portion of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix is currently in a bidding war against Paramount Skydance, whose bid is backed by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, a Trump ally.

Weaponizing the Equal Time Rule

The FCC is exploring “an enforcement action” against The View after the talk-show welcomed James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas. The View has reportedly been under investigation for potentially violating the Equal Time Rule, a restriction that prevents favoritism by forcing broadcasters to provide commensurate airtime to opposing candidates. Earlier this week, CBS lawyers, citing this rule – even though a long-standing FCC exemption for late-night shows remains unchanged – blocked Stephen Colbert from airing his interview with Talarico on broadcast television. Colbert posted the interview to YouTube instead, garnering millions of views.

Even More Universities Under Fire

Following the Pentagon’s decision to sever ties with Harvard, the Army is now evaluating over 35 “moderate to high risk” universities for potential blacklisting. This list includes names like Stanford, MIT, and Yale, and places important programs such as the Army’s Bradley Fellowship – a Georgetown University public policy program that has supported hundreds of service members earning master’s degrees since 2003 – at risk of cancellation.

Furthermore, the DOJ is demanding five years of private student data from Harvard — including personal essays and faculty evaluations — leading to fears that students’ private information is being harvested for future use as a political weapon.

New Rules for Voting

The House passed the SAVE America Act on February 11. If it becomes law, it will require a passport or birth certificate to register to vote nationwide. While the bill’s sponsors and President Trump claim it will prevent noncitizens from voting, the data (even from the conservative Heritage Foundation’s own research) repeatedly show that noncitizen voting is nearly non-existent. Experts warn that this could prevent millions of eligible Americans from voting because they lack these specific documents.

That said, the bill’s passage through the Senate appears increasingly unlikely. With only 50 Senators supporting the bill, ten short of the 60-vote threshold to pass, and with Senate Republicans still unwilling to torpedo the legislative filibuster, the SAVE Act has little chance of moving forward. That hasn’t deterred Trump from threatening to sign an executive order on the matter, though its enforceability would quickly run into myriad constitutional setbacks.

Erasing Climate Science

On February 12, the EPA revoked a 17-year-old scientific finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health. Without it, the government loses its power to regulate carbon emissions. Already, the State of California and environmental groups have announced plans to challenge the ruling in court. This move coincides with a massive “brain drain“ at the EPA, which has seen more than 1,000 scientists being let go, the agency’s total staff dropping below 15,000 – with more cuts expected – along with the firing of the agency’s Inspector General.

While the pace of change is rapid, the judiciary has been emerging as a more robust “bulwark” for the rule of law. As of mid-February, courts have ruled against the administration in over 200 cases. A federal judge dismissed a DOJ lawsuit that sought to seize Michigan’s voter rolls, marking the third such defeat for the government after similar rejections in Oregon and California. And, in a win for free speech, a court halted the deportation of Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk, who had been targeted simply for co-writing an op-ed critical of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The judiciary is also demanding accountability from Trump administration leadership (or, former leadership): Judge Theodore Chuang ordered Elon Musk to sit for a deposition regarding the dismantling of USAID, rejecting attempts to shield him from testimony. Additionally, in Doe v. DHS, the government was forced to withdraw a retaliatory subpoena targeting a private citizen. And in Philadelphia, a George W. Bush-appointed federal judge ordered the government to restore a slavery exhibit it had pulled down earlier this year at George Washington’s former Philadelphia home. Comparing the administration to the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984, the judge explicitly stated the federal government does not have the power “to dissemble and disassemble historical truths.”

An increasing number of judges are willing to confront the administration’s aggressive new immigration enforcement tactics in the nation’s interior. U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin of West Virginia ordered the immediate release of an asylum-seeking noncitizen who was seized during a traffic stop by masked, unidentifiable ICE agents driving unmarked vehicles. In his order, the Judge Goodwin explicitly ruled that the deployment of anonymous agents to conduct warrantless civil immigration arrests is a moment in which “antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening… It is an assault on the constitutional order.” He ruled that ICE’s actions violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable seizures and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

These rulings are hopeful, and they show us that when the president oversteps his legal boundaries, the lower courts remain willing and able to intervene.

It’s easy to feel weighed down by the sheer volume of news these days — especially when the steady drumbeat of shocking or frightening headlines makes us feel as if the foundations of our institutions are shifting daily. But staying informed doesn’t have to mean staying overwhelmed. One of the most effective strategies for maintaining well-being during political turmoil is setting firm boundaries on your media consumption, such as designating specific times of the day to check for updates rather than constant scrolling.

Sometimes we have to actively look hard for small wins, or focus on the things we can immediately control in our own lives and communities – and that’s okay. History shows that progress zigzags, and democratic resilience is frequently built through local community action and steady legal challenges.

Taking a break to lean into hobbies, restorative activities, or quality time with loved ones is not an act of avoidance—it is an investment in your own resilience. Hope is a practice that requires us to zoom out and see the larger picture beyond the current moment. By staying grounded in facts, connecting with support networks, and celebrating victories like those we’ve seen in the court system, we can maintain the energy we need to stay engaged for the long haul.

Yes, the country is under immense strain – but we’re not broken yet. Hang in there, and we’ll see you next week.