{"ok":true,"trend":{"id":353797,"platform":"mastodon","region":"global","key":"\"since the 1950s, congress’s funding bills have routinely banned the use of taxpayer funds for “publicity or # propagand","title":"\"since the 1950s, Congress’s funding bills have routinely banned the use of taxpayer funds for “publicity or # propagand","url":"https://newsie.social/@ZhiZhu/117354101683612980","first_seen":"2026-09-29T11:44:49.759248Z","last_seen":"2026-09-29T13:17:50.550974Z","last_rank":1,"peak_rank":1,"last_volume":4,"peak_volume":4,"seen_count":3,"score":0.74515625,"category_hint":"crime","section":"world","category":"politics","summary":"Since the 1950s, Congress's funding bills have routinely banned the use of taxpayer funds for publicity or propaganda, with the Government Accountability Office defining prohibited material as content that is purely partisan or self-aggrandizing. Commenters are raising this ban just weeks ahead of the midterm elections, implying recent government communications may test those long-standing limits.","why":"The restriction is being invoked weeks before the US midterm elections amid concerns about potential misuse of taxpayer-funded government messaging.","tone":"neutral","entities":["US Congress","Government Accountability Office"],"summarized_at":"2026-09-29T11:45:39.840377Z","meta":{"tag":"crime","via":"scan","kind":"status","lang":"en","instance":"mastodon.social","tag_uses":188},"nw":null,"promo":null,"kind":null,"importance":null,"hidden":false,"hide_reason":null,"judged_at":null,"title_en":"Congress's decades-old propaganda ban back in the spotlight","section_name":"World","category_name":"Politics","timeline":[{"captured_at":"2026-09-29T11:44:49.759248Z","rank":4,"volume":3},{"captured_at":"2026-09-29T11:55:50.008262Z","rank":1,"volume":3},{"captured_at":"2026-09-29T13:14:54.129242Z","rank":4,"volume":4},{"captured_at":"2026-09-29T13:17:50.550974Z","rank":1,"volume":4}],"posts":[{"platform":"mastodon","url":"https://newsie.social/@ZhiZhu/117354101683612980","author":"ZhiZhu@newsie.social","title":null,"snippet":"\"since the 1950s, Congress’s funding bills have routinely banned the use of taxpayer funds for “publicity or # propaganda .” The # Government Accountability Office defines this as stuff that’s “purely partisan” or “self-aggrandizing.” Now, just weeks ahead of the midterm…","posted_at":"2026-09-29T11:31:23Z","likes":4}],"elsewhere":[],"window":"7d"}}