By Jacob Mchangama and John G. Geer Americans’ views on free speech change directions every so often. One of those times was during the protests at U.S. universities about the Israel-Hamas war. As scholars of free speech and public opinion, we set out to find out what happened and why. The Supreme Court itself, as […]
By Jacob Mchangama A recent spate of neo-Nazi demonstrations in Nashville has heightened tensions in an already polarized political environment. Fortunately, there has been bipartisan condemnation of these vile and obscene efforts to promote hatred in our community. However, some Tennessee public officials want to go beyond condemnation, claiming that “hate speech is not free […]
By Jeff Kosseff Though the opinion is likely not the final word on the Texas and Florida laws, it’s an important statement that the Court will not set different rules for online and offline speech. Although the Supreme Court’s opinion in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton reserved final judgment on state laws that restrict online content moderation, the […]
Nashville, Tenn., July 1, 2024 — Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decisions in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton. The Future of Free Speech, a nonpartisan think tank located at Vanderbilt University, has issued the following statement, attributable to Senior Fellow Jeff Kosseff: “A majority of the Supreme Court signed on to the […]
By Jacob Mchangama Free speech pessimism is on the rise among America’s elites. “Free Speech Is Killing Us,” read a 2019 op-ed in The New York Times. Recently, an article in The New York Times Magazine concluded, “It’s time to ask whether the American way of protecting free speech is actually keeping us free.” George Washington University Law […]
By Jacob Mchangama It is undeniable that the proliferation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on college campuses and in the workplace has contributed to a censorious atmosphere throughout U.S. culture. Some employees fear reprisal for speaking about certain issues in the office while college faculty and guest speakers have been shouted down, condemned, disinvited, or […]
By Elizabeth Amato Reviewed: Liar in a Crowded Theater by Jeff Kosseff How can we defend free speech to those who show little interest in preserving an unfettered “marketplace of ideas”? In March 2020, Waylon Bailey posted on Facebook a joke about zombies, and how his local sheriff’s office in Forest Hill, Louisiana had orders […]
By Jeff Kosseff Last year, the Supreme Court had a chance to interpret Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act for the first time. The Court was hearing Gonzalez v. Google, in which the lower court held that the 1996 law shielded Google from a lawsuit filed by the family of an Islamic State shooting victim. During oral […]
Jeff Kosseff in New York Times This term, the Supreme Court will reconsider America’s laissez-faire approach to regulating the internet, and in doing so it will address vital and new First Amendment questions. Can states stop social media sites from blocking certain content? Can the federal government pressure platforms to remove content it disagrees with? […]
WHEN THE US Supreme Court agreed to hear Gonzalez v. Google, its first case involving Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the tech-policy world was laser-focused on its implications. The week before oral arguments, in February last year, the Brookings Institution held a panel touting the case’s “power to reshape the internet.” The New York Times wrote that the case “could have […]