For fifty days, the most important free-speech bill in Congress had no cosponsors.
The GRANITE Act, H.R. 10174, would stop foreign governments from censoring Americans on American soil. Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio introduced it on August 27. Lawyer Preston Byrne designed it. Then it sat. On October 15, according to the official record at Congress.gov, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky added his name. He is still the only one.
Byrne announced it today, calling Massie “one of the most principled civil liberties advocates in Congress.” I agree, and I want to explain why this one signature matters more than it looks.
Story at a glance
Rep. Thomas Massie is the first and only cosponsor of the GRANITE Act, the federal shield against foreign censorship of Americans.
He sits on House Judiciary, the committee that would hold the hearing, and on both of the subcommittees closest to the bill.
His record on free speech, medical consent and surveillance goes back more than a decade. He was censored himself in 2021 for posting a study on natural immunity.
GRANITE matters to every American who posts online. Britain, Russia, Australia and Azerbaijan are already reaching across the water.
Massie leaves Congress on January 3. The work now is to add names, so the bill is ready when it is reintroduced.
You can tell your Representative and both Senators in two minutes. The form and a copy-ready message are here.
Why one name matters
A single cosponsor does not pass a bill. This one still counts, because of where Massie sits. GRANITE was referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Massie is on that committee, and on its Subcommittee on the Constitution and its Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet, where he is listed first among the Republicans after Chairman Darrell Issa (Office of the Clerk; House Judiciary roster).
A bill with no cosponsors tells committee staff that nobody is asking for it. A bill with a member of the committee on it has someone who can raise it in the room.
A record, not a press release
Massie has represented Kentucky’s 4th District since 2012. He is known for casting the lone vote, and for forcing votes leadership would rather avoid. On the issues this movement cares about, the record is long and consistent:
Surveillance. In 2015 the Massie–Lofgren amendment to defund “backdoor” FISA searches of Americans’ emails, photos and texts passed the House 255–174 (Massie). This April he said, “The Constitution requires I vote No on FISA 702 reauthorization” (TechCrunch), then introduced the Surveillance Accountability Act, which requires warrants and gives Americans a right to sue when the Fourth Amendment is violated (H.R. 8470).
Free speech. He cosponsored the bill to shut down DHS’s Disinformation Governance Board (H.R. 7641). He led floor opposition to the TikTok ban: “Americans have the right to view information. We don’t need to be protected by the government from information” (McClatchy). He voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act on free-speech grounds (Reason). And he introduced H.R. 1233 to stop taxpayer money from funding “disinformation research” grants (Massie).
Informed consent. “I don’t think anybody should be mandated to take the vaccine” (KET). He filed H.R. 185 to end the ban on unvaccinated international travelers (Massie), and the PREP Repeal Act to restore the right of people injured by pandemic products to sue: “The PREP Act is medical malpractice martial law” (Massie).
Accountability. In 2020 he demanded a recorded vote on the $2.2 trillion CARES Act so every member would be on record (Congress.gov). Last November his discharge petition forced the vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed 427–1 and was signed into law (Massie).
He knows what it is to be flagged
On May 19, 2021, Massie posted a study of 187,549 people finding that immunity from prior infection protected as well as the Pfizer vaccine. Twitter labeled it “Misleading” (House record). The government-funded Stanford Virality Project flagged his natural-immunity tweets to platforms twice and tagged them “right wing” (Shellenberger testimony).
I know that machinery from the receiving end. I was one of the twelve Americans named on the “Disinformation Dozen” list by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a London-founded group with a Washington office. Its own planning notes listed “Trigger EU & UK regulatory action” as an annual priority (my reporting; The Global Front). That is the point where domestic censorship and foreign censorship turn out to be the same fight. GRANITE is the part of that fight Congress can settle in law.
What GRANITE actually does
The shield. American courts will not enforce a foreign fine, judgment or order that punishes speech the First Amendment protects. In Rep. Rulli’s words, such a judgment “is dead on arrival in our courts” (Rulli).
The sword. An American who is targeted can go to federal court and get the foreign demand declared void. Today a foreign regulator can claim sovereign immunity and walk away.
The definitions. It covers how censorship actually arrives now: by regulator’s letter and administrative fine, not only by court judgment.
The 2010 SPEECH Act already blocks foreign libel judgments. It does not reach an online-safety fine or a takedown letter, which is how most foreign censorship of Americans now arrives.
Why it is about every American
Britain. Ofcom fined the American site 4chan under the Online Safety Act. When 4chan sued in U.S. court, the case was dismissed on sovereign immunity, the gap GRANITE closes (Byrne & Storm).
Russia. A Russian demand to the U.S. web host WP Engine was used to censor the Human Rights Foundation’s criticism of the Kremlin (Russia Censors Americans).
Australia. A Royal Commission targeted Byrne himself, an American lawyer, with a direction that carries up to a year in prison under Australian law (Restore the First).
Azerbaijan and China. Foreign states are bringing lawfare into American courtrooms, including Azerbaijan’s federal suit against CNN (The Hill).
None of this depends on how you vote. “This is not a partisan bill,” Byrne writes (Why Democrats Should Back the GRANITE Act). We are not asking other countries to adopt our Constitution. We are asking them to stop enforcing their speech laws on American soil.
Where it stands, honestly
Sen. Mike Lee’s Senate version, S. 5478, has no cosponsors (Congress.gov). Rep. Warren Davidson’s companion HOMEFRONT Act has five (Congress.gov). The House is out until after the November 3 election, and this Congress ends January 3, 2027. Any bill not passed by then dies and must be reintroduced.
Massie will not be in the next Congress. He lost his May primary to a Trump-backed challenger (CNBC). So his signature is not a bid for votes. It is a member with less than three months left in office putting his name on the record. The job now is to make sure he is the first of many.
Tell Congress, in two minutes
Our coalition partner Stand for Health Freedom hosts a form that sends one message to your Representative and one to both your Senators. Paste this into the “add your own story” box:
As your constituent, I ask you to stand up for the First Amendment. Please: (1) cosponsor the GRANITE Act (H.R. 10174 / S. 5478) and the HOMEFRONT Act (H.R. 10309) so foreign governments cannot censor Americans on American soil; (2) pass the JAWBONE Act (S. 4749) to stop federal officials pressuring platforms to remove lawful speech; (3) give Americans a private right of action when government censors their protected speech; (4) oppose the vague “duty of care” and age-verification mandates in KOSA (S. 1748) and the KIDS Act (H.R. 7757); and (5) end taxpayer funding for “disinformation” programs (H.R. 1233). Rep. Thomas Massie has already cosponsored GRANITE. Please join him.
Send your message to Congress →
Then thank him publicly. A thank-you to a member who signs on tells the next member that people are watching.
The full feature, with every source linked, is at restorethe1st.com. Rep. Massie and Preston Byrne did not review this piece. It covers his record on speech, consent and surveillance; it is not an endorsement of every position he holds.
I’m having trouble understanding why Massie is the only one signing on and why this GRANITE Act, H.R. 10174 has sat there for longer than a month with no one else signing. Why are the representatives afraid of? Why don’t they want to protect Americans? There must be a benefit to not signing that is more than the risk of putting their name on it.
Thank you for your tireless efforts and for making it so simple to add our names to the voices. I posted this on my website for patients and pray that together we make a difference.