It’s time to name and shame: Let us know 2025’s worst transparency offenders with a Foilies nomination!
Brought to you by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock, the Foilies “honor” the institutions and individuals most determined to keep the public in the dark.
By Michael Morisy, MuckRock, Nov. 18, 2025
It’s that magical time of year again: Foilies submissions are open, giving requesters and transparency fans a chance to highlight agencies, organizations and individuals that blocked (or tried to block) access to information that the public has a right to get.
Since 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has sought to “honor” those that have gone above and beyond when it comes to restricting access to information. Previous winners of these tongue-in-cheek awards include vandals who stuffed cow manure and pasta in the mailbox of a requester they did not like, U.S. Southern Command for surrealist redaction art that ventured into absurdism and the NSA’s technical difficulties digitizing a historic lecture.
EFF and MuckRock will review the entries as well as other lowlights from the world of transparency and publish the “winners” to kick off Sunshine Week 2026.
Read more here.