Screen Rant owner Valnet issues new demands to silence journalistic reports

According to Joshua Tyler
| Updated 19 seconds ago

For the past few months, I’ve been working on reporting on the current state of Google search results to help independent publishers better understand what’s going on. Last month, Valnet (a large media company that owns sites like Screen Rant, Game Rant, Collider, Comic Book Resources, The Gamer, Open Critic, Dual Shockers, and many others) began issuing legal threats demanding that I remove my previous report about their company and its place in Google search results.

Valnet’s initial letter demanding my silence may be read in full here.

I responded to these threats by informing them that I would not comply. You can read my entire response here.

In light of my refusal to waive my constitutionally protected First Amendment rights, Valnet’s legal counsel informed me that they would “tracking” all my “articles, social media posts and other public activities.” What exactly these “public activities” are is not made clear in their communication.

If I want Valent to stop “following” me, I will have to delete past references I made to their company and avoid repeating them in the future.

Below are two examples of X posts I’ve written that Valnet is requesting to be removed. Many more examples can be found in their full communication, which is part of this article.

You can read the full text of Valnet’s letter to my legal counsel below.