News Round-Up: No Liability for VPNs in EU Copyright Case; UK Labels Criticism of Trans Ideology as Misinfo; US Targets Far-Left Violence
Twice a week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye – or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past few days, the following topics attracted our attention:
British Researchers: Opposing Trans Ideology and Immigration Criticism is Misinformation
EU Court: VPN Providers Not Liable for Copyright Infringements
The US is Targeting Violence Perpetrated by the Far Left
British Researchers: Opposing Trans Ideology and Immigration Criticism is False or Misinformation
According to a report commissioned by the UK government, opinions opposing trans ideology and reports concerning crime committed by immigrants constitute false and misleading information. The report recommends ‘psychologically vaccinating’ the public against false information and implementing measures in schools, as well as in the wider public sphere. Critics believe this amounts to an Orwellian ‘thought police’ scheme and raises fears that any common-sense criticism could in future be labelled as false or misleading information, writes GB News.
Researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Edinburgh published a report that identifies 11 categories of false and misleading information circulating in the UK: health, climate change, elections, immigration, security and conflict, foreign disinformation, racism, AI-generated content, gender and LGBTQ+, finance and others. The researchers drew on studies by the World Economic Forum, the UN, the British Parliament and the Communications Authority, as well as data from EU fact-checkers. They emphasised that false and misleading information does not operate in isolation but amplifies other global threats. This distorts public understanding and hinders coordinated responses. It can undermine evidence-based policy, erode public trust, destroy democracy, increase polarisation, and harm individuals, communities and society as a whole. Although propaganda and rumours are nothing new, social media has fundamentally changed how such narratives spread, and artificial intelligence is now adding fuel to the fire.
More specifically, the report identifies gender and LGBTQ+ issues as one category. False and misleading information here includes “anti-LGBTQ+ narratives, ‘gender ideology’ claims targeting schools and public institutions, Pride event misrepresentation, and transgender athlete controversies.” For example, based on the report, the reports about Imane Khelif, a boxer who competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics, who was criticised for competing in the women’s category because she had allegedly previously failed a gender verification test, would likely be automatically classified as false and misleading information.
False and misleading information in the health category includes “vaccine misinformation, COVID-19 narratives, miracle cure claims, and pandemic policy”, while climate change false and misleading information includes “climate denial, weather map manipulation, geoengineering conspiracies (including HAARP and directed energy weapons), and the misattribution of natural disasters to deliberate technological intervention”.
The immigration category comprises “false claims about migrant entitlements, misrepresentation of the demographic composition of migrant arrivals, and the misattribution of criminal acts to migrant communities”, whilst racist content includes, amongst other things, “content associating minority communities with crime or cultural threat”. Other categories include allegations of electoral fraud, war-related disinformation, claims of staged attacks, deepfakes created using artificial intelligence (primarily of a political nature), and attempts to institutionally delegitimise the EU. Finally, the last category is ‘miscellaneous’, which leaves broad scope to label other information as false or misleading.
Furthermore, the researchers believe the UK urgently needs a database of false and misleading information, updated monthly. This would monitor the spread of ‘misinformation’ and help mitigate damage from high-priority claims. Ideally, it could link to the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO).
The report recommends that politicians use psychology to prevent the spread of potentially misleading or false information. These methods should be implemented in schools and public discourse to stop ‘false’ ideas from taking root. The authors highlight prebunking, also called ‘psychological vaccination’, as a key measure, whereby an argument is refuted before it even begins to spread or takes root. The report identifies debunking as another important measure, whereby ‘misinformation’ that has already been published is corrected and efforts are made to prevent others from believing the original information. With regard to media and digital literacy, the authors find that whilst these do build resilience, they take too much time and the training does not reach all groups. Therefore, authorities should also regulate platform structures and algorithms more closely, for example by requiring quality labels.
At present, the UK government has sought to distance itself from the report and asserts that it is an independent review which does not represent official policy. Its purpose was to provide information on identifying and combating harmful information. According to a government spokesperson, the authorities’ primary duty is to protect democracy, including freedom of speech.
Shadow Chancellor Alex Burghart has described the report as a plan to establish an “Orwellian thought police”. According to Burghart, Labour claims it is merely combating disinformation, but in reality it risks creating a thought police that could censor common-sense opinions of millions. “It comes as no surprise that a government so committed to concealment and secrecy is seeking to stifle dissent,” stated the Shadow Chancellor, warning that the proposals could restrict activists campaigning for women’s rights and others. Burghart is calling on the new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer’s successor or relevant leadership, to disregard the report.
EU Court: VPN Providers Not Liable for Copyright Infringements
The Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a judgment in July 2026 in the case concerning the publication of Anne Frank’s manuscripts, concluding that VPN service providers are not liable for copyright infringements. The Court recognised VPNs as legitimate technical tools and set limits on online copyright disputes, Techradar reports.
The Court ruled in a legal dispute over the online publication of Anne Frank’s historical manuscripts. This began when the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Society for the Study and Appreciation of Historical Texts published a digital scholarly Dutch-language edition of Anne Frank’s diary on the website www.annefrankmanuscripten.org. The domain is owned by an association registered in Belgium. Access is restricted by geo-blocking, which prevents users in countries where the work is still protected by copyright from viewing the site, including the Netherlands, where some texts are protected until 2037. In Belgium and around 60 other countries, Frank’s writings have been in the public domain for many years.
The Anne Frank Fonds, the copyright holder, brought a claim, arguing that VPNs enable users to conceal their IP address and appear to be in Belgium. This allowed Dutch readers to access a work still protected by copyright in the Netherlands without authorisation. And by that the publishers had distributed the protected work.
The court addressed whether a publisher that uses geo-blocking on its website breaks the law if users from blocked countries bypass it with a VPN. The court found that the publisher was not in breach of the law. As long as the website employs state-of-the-art geo-blocking technology, the publisher cannot be held liable for copyright infringement solely because readers use a VPN to circumvent the block. The court noted that, although circumvention is possible, this possibility cannot automatically be a decisive factor in determining the inadequacy of the website’s measures. Furthermore, the court stated that providers of VPNs or similar services are not liable for users circumventing restrictions.
The ruling sets a precedent, confirming that copyright holders cannot claim a website’s security measures are ineffective simply because VPNs exist. It also clarifies that such privacy software is lawful. Consumers are entitled to use a VPN to encrypt their internet traffic or conceal their IP address. Indirectly, the judges protected VPN companies from potential damages in future piracy cases.
Anne Frank was a German teenager of Jewish descent who lived in the Netherlands and kept a diary (‘The Diary of Anne Frank’) between 1942 and 1944, in which she bore witness to the Holocaust. When Anne died in a concentration camp, her father, Otto Frank, published her writings in 1947 and founded the Anne Frank Foundation in 1963. Following Otto Frank’s death, the Anne Frank Foundation acquired the copyright to the works.
The US is Targeting Violence Perpetrated by the Far Left
In July, the Trump administration hosted representatives from more than 60 countries in Washington, calling on nations to join forces in combating left-wing extremism, whose organised acts of terrorism are increasing year on year on both sides of the Atlantic. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, far-left extremism is nothing new but has long been the dominant form of political violence. It stems from a unique form of evil rooted in a deep hatred of civilisation, reports the BBC.
Foreign Minister Rubio emphasised in his speech: “For far too long, however, our counter-terrorism doctrine has had a blind spot – a blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left. Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy.” According to Rubio, left-wing terrorism has been a constant feature throughout history and is certainly not a figment of conservative politicians’ imagination, but rather an ever-growing real threat. “This is a distinctive and unique evil. It has always been driven by hatred above all else – hatred for civilisation itself,” said Rubio, describing the far left as a rebellion against the best, a rebellion of the weak and the cowardly against the strong and the good. The instigators are often those who are incapable of building, creating or achieving anything of significance, and who therefore take their revenge on the world. “This is what radical leftism is. It may take on various different slogans and ideologies across different places and times. They may call themselves anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, communist, anarchist or Marxist. But the fundamental character is always the same. It’s always the same,” Rubio emphasised, adding that such toxic hatred is masked by talk of equality, justice and liberation.
The Foreign Minister warned that left-wing terrorism has reached a level not seen for decades. According to US data, in 2025 far-left extremists were responsible for a significant share of recorded anti-government attacks or plots. In 2024, 21 attacks were recorded in the European Union linked to far-left and anarchist terrorists. In the same year, 24 jihadist attacks were recorded. In 2025, 12 of the 45 recorded terrorist attacks in the EU were linked to far-left and anarchist activists.
Rubio described the transnational nature of far-left movements, in which Antifa members, for example, travel around the world to take part in each other’s attacks, spread propaganda and organise training. New members are recruited from various sources, and information on targets is exchanged via encrypted channels. Accordingly, in Rubio’s view, there is no alternative but for countries to act in cooperation and collectively.
Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff and National Security Adviser at the White House, characterised left-wingers as people driven, in essence, by envy, hatred and jealousy. Miller described: “One of the hallmarks of left-wing violence and terrorism is its completely pretextual and disingenuous appeal to civil liberties in an effort to shield its own violence. This is the tactic the left always uses to try to protect itself from facing criminal punishment.” According to Miller, a left-winger who does not actually believe in freedom, civil rights or any conventional concept of justice is lying when they claim their rights are being violated. Consequently, the US has begun taking steps to recognise left-wing violence as a form of political terrorism that directly threatens national security, and there is no turning back.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans to increase funding for this fight and to identify organisations that abuse charitable and non-profit structures as means of illegal financing. He promised to investigate the tax exemptions and financial channels of such organisations and confirmed that the systems and networks supporting left-wing terrorism would be dismantled.
According to a White House press release, the aim of the conference was to launch an international campaign against radical left-wing terrorism, which must be treated with the same severity as jihadist terrorism. The fight against left-wing groups, particularly Antifa, has been a priority for the Trump administration for some time. Last September, Trump designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organisation, which, according to the designation, is a militaristic and anarchist enterprise. Its aim is to overthrow the government, law enforcement agencies and the legal system through the use of (political) violence, acts of terror, riots and attacks on the police. The US has taken a stand against Antifa through both campaigns and concrete measures. According to the authorities, the aim is to dismantle left-wing terrorism, cut off funding, shut down members’ hideouts and propaganda channels, and bring the perpetrators to justice. In addition to a domestic Antifa cell, Washington has also designated four European groups as terrorist organisations: Antifa Ost (Germany), the Informal Anarchist Federation/International Revolutionary Front (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece) and Revolutionary Class Self-Defence (Greece).
Following the conference, the State Department also announced new visa restrictions applicable to members of far-left terrorist and associated groups, including foreign nationals who have funded, encouraged or supported far-left extremists.
