Their mission includes, "saving Net Neutrality, achieving affordable internet access for all, uplifting the voices of people of color in the media, challenging old and new media gatekeepers to serve the public interest, ending unwarranted surveillance, defending press freedom and reimagining local journalism.

[9] Free Press was co-founded in 2003[1] by media scholar Robert W. McChesney, progressive journalist John Nichols, and activist Josh Silver.

[1][6] In 2008, Free Press was the key mover in a pro-net neutrality campaign that "drew together strange bedfellows, including the Christian Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Gun Owners of America, and helped set in motion a broader debate on the issue" that resulted in an FCC hearing on the subject.

In 2017, Free Press's president Craig Aaron has said that the reversal of the 2015 Open Internet Order "would put consumers at the mercy of phone and cable companies.

[17] The board of directors includes Craig Aaron, Michael Copps, Ashley Allison, Alvaro Bedoya, Olga Davidson, Joan Donovan, Martha Fuentes-Bautista, Bryan Mercer, Victor Pickard and Ben Scott.