Home Blog Page 13

College Campuses: A Free Speech Battlefield

The famous case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) set the standard for free speech in education. In this case, the Supreme Court famously stated: “Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gates.” However, in recent times higher education has become a battleground for free speech. Many stories...

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg: Free Speech Essential for Democracy

While speaking at Georgetown University last week, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, addressed the need for more free speech—not less. This comes at a pivotal moment, as the First Amendment is under attack—51% of Americans would support it being rewritten—and social media companies are under pressure to reject free expression on their platforms. In a recent Democratic debate, for...

Is This the Worst Lawsuit of 2019?

We have freedom of speech in America, but it has limits. For one, if we defame other people—saying something untrue that hurts their reputation—we can be sued for damages. One defense to such a lawsuit is that the harmful speech is true. You can’t defame someone if what you’re saying is correct. Which takes us to the strange lawsuit filed...

What Should We Do About Hate Speech?

Vile, racist, and bigoted words and thoughts have proliferated since the dawn of social media.  Such “hate speech” does real harm. It can be demeaning, deflating, and deafening. So what do we do about it? What's the 'answer' to hate speech online? Empirical data even suggests that frequent verbal harassment can manifest itself as serious physical ailments, including high blood pressure,...