Judge Denies Stay in Media Collusion Case

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan for the District of Columbia has rejected an FTC request for a stay of an enjoinment in the agency's probe of alleged media outlet collusion. In an opinion Friday (docket 1:25-cv-01959), Sooknanan said the FTC "fall[s] well short of satisfying the high burden needed for a stay pending appeal." With plaintiff Media Matters likely to succeed on the merits of its First Amendment claim, it's unlikely that an FTC appeal will succeed on the merits, the judge said. The agency hasn't identified an irreparable injury that warrants a stay, she added. Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog group, sued the FTC in June to block a civil investigative demand that the agency filed in its investigation into alleged collusion between media outlets and social media platforms (see 2506230039).