Trump added to RSF's 2026 list of press freedom predators alongside Putin and Xi

The 2026 list

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its 2026 list of 33 people and organisations it calls predators of press freedom on Monday, 2 November. The day is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, which commemorates the 2013 killing of two French journalists in Mali. RSF says the entries share a hostility to independent media, even though they use different tools, from killings and imprisonment to discrediting, propaganda and armies of trolls.

Why Trump was listed

RSF says Trump has multiplied attacks meant to reduce journalism to political communication in the United States. The organisation argues that since the start of his second term in January 2025, his attacks have moved beyond rhetoric and public policy into physical restrictions on journalists. It cites a ban on CNN, MS Now and Politico entering the White House, imposed a little over two months earlier, and restrictions on access to the White House and the Pentagon, where outlets seen as friendly receive priority. On 1 November a federal judge rejected Trump's demand for $10 billion in damages from The Wall Street Journal, while other suits, including one against the BBC, are still pending. Under his presidency the United States fell seven places in one year to 64th in RSF's World Press Freedom Index.

Other names on the list

Several entries carry over from earlier editions. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (alongside his wife, Rosa Murillo) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko continue to use the state apparatus to silence the media. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada also appear. Sisi is a new entry, accused of jailing journalists from the fact-checking site Matsaddash and of shutting down Mada Masr, a leading news outlet, in recent weeks. The list also includes the Israeli armed forces, the Chinese Communist Party and Mexican cartels, including the Jalisco cartel, which RSF links to a climate of terror in a country supposedly at peace. Nearly one journalist a month has been killed by organised crime so far this year.

Tech and business figures

RSF places the economic threat in a separate category. Alphabet, which owns Google, and Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, are listed for undermining media financially. RSF says Google steers readers away from traditional outlets toward AI-generated content that often draws on those same outlets, while advertising revenue flows mainly to the tech companies. French media owner Vincent Bollore and Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili are also listed, as is Elon Musk, who is placed among people who discredit the media and sow distrust in it.