47 U.S.C. § 326
Section 326 · Censorship
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 66 court decisions — leading case Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission (1994)
Most recently applied in Gray Television, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission (March 2025)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment and consequential amendments — watch for a citation surge after a change. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Nothing in this chapter shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1948—Act June 25, 1948, repealed last sentence relating to use of indecent language. See section 1464 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
Effective Date of 1948 Amendment
Amendment by act June 25, 1948, effective as of Sept. 1, 1948, see section 20 of that act.