Update: The lawsuit has finally been settled. Your contribution will help mitigate the negative impacts we’ve suffered in this fight.

As you may know, over the past 2-plus years, Techdirt was involved in a lawsuit that amounted to a First Amendment fight for its life. At the beginning of the ordeal, we asked for your help to survive it — in particular to allow us to continue our reporting while the lawsuit was ongoing — and your support was critical in helping us see the fight through. When a settlement first seemed imminent, we stopped asking for donations because we did not wish to mislead anyone into believing that we were raising money on the premise that our continued existence was in grave danger, only to settle the case immediately after doing so. But it dragged on for another 18 months. And now, we’re asking for your support again. Donations to the Techdirt Survival Fund will help us recover from a legal battle that was a drain not only on our time and ability to cover important issues, but also on our financial health. The Fund will also help us continue Techdirt’s critical coverage of First Amendment issues including defamation law, intermediary liability, chilling effects, copyright abuse, and the need for a federal anti-SLAPP statute, as we recover from this fight for our very survival.

Journalism Is Under Fire

Journalism and vigorous public debate are critical to our democracy, and in the age of corporate media, independent voices are more important than ever. Recently, we’ve witnessed a pattern of attacks on the free press from both the private sector and the government, up to and including the President himself. Our situation is just one example of that pattern, but it’s an important one.

Attacks like these are designed to stifle public discourse — and they’ve often been successful. If you believe in supporting strong independent journalism that will stand up to such attacks, please donate to the Techdirt Survival Fund today.