In 2023, Popular Information has documented the extraordinary assault on academic freedom in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis. This week, Popular Information broke the news that the Manatee County School District instructed teachers to make their classroom libraries inaccessible to students, or risk felony prosecution. The directive was issued as part of an effort to comply with new laws and regulations championed by DeSantis — all based on the premise that teachers are using books to “groom” students.

Twitter, under the control of DeSantis-supporter Elon Musk, is attempting to undermine Popular Information's reporting. The platform appended a "Community Note" to our viral thread about Manatee, indicating that our tweets were "misleading." 

The note appended by Twitter was false. The Manatee County School District explicitly instructed its teachers to "[r]emove or cover all classroom libraries" or risk criminal charges. I obtained the document distributed to principals and teachers, which you can read HERE. 

This is a big problem: Over the last four years, half of Popular Information's readers found out about this newsletter on Twitter. Now, we can no longer count on Twitter to sustain our growth. 

That's why I need your help. Popular Information has 229,000 readers, but only a small percentage are paid subscribers. If a few more readers upgrade to paid, Popular Information can invest in alternative growth strategies and produce more accountability journalism that rattles the cages of the powerful.

If you upgrade to paid in the next 24 hours, you'll also receive a 20% discount off the regular price:

Upgrade to Paid

With this special discount, a paid subscription is just $4.80/month or $40/year. Your support will help innoculate us from the whims of right-wing billionaires like Musk and ensure that Popular Information thrives for years to come. 

Thanks,

Judd