![]() He will fuel its disintegration by permitting it to be overrun by toxic disinformation, including deep fakes, insipid propaganda, calls for violence, doxing, and other forms of illiberal anti-speech acts. Musk’s claim that he will save society’s “public square” is fundamentally bogus. What starts with reinstating Trump’s account, allowing him to disseminate more demonstrable lies about election fraud and his political opponents, will augur broader evisceration of Twitter’s standards. ![]() Musk has already offered a preview of the changes he might make at Twitter. Such subversive tactics designed to crash the marketplace of opinions and ideas are, in fact, “ anti-speech acts.” Their only purpose is to debase political discourse itself. Debasing political discourse itselfĮven with current policies of content moderation, social-media platforms are awash in disinformation that is corroding public trust and undermining the essential function of free and informed political discourse. 6, 2021, makes plain, the freedom to hold unpopular political views does not confer a right to violent insurrection. For example, there are laws in many states in the United States that proscribe deliberately spreading false information about polling locations, voting times, ballot authenticity, or voting instructions, nor can you make provably false claims about your status as an incumbent or about your campaign’s affiliations.Īnd as the criminal prosecution of participants in the violent mob that sought to block the peaceful transition of power at the U.S. Some limits on speech have also been deemed essential to safeguard free and fair elections. It is also why we have laws proscribing incitement to imminent violence, perjury, and lying to the authorities about criminal activity. ![]() That is why we have laws against defamation and the intentional infliction of emotional distress-as the Alex Jones case reflects. Freedom of speech is not a license deliberately or recklessly to issue statements that harm others or put their property rights at risk. The same goes for the marketplace of opinions and ideas. Without such constraints, false and deceptive claims would proliferate, fomenting levels of mistrust that inevitably invite market failure. That is why we have laws against fraud in the marketplace of goods and services. On the contrary, meaningful freedom requires ground rules to limit abuses that would otherwise render it a dead letter. No freedom-whether of speech or action-is absolute. Musk’s call for “ absolute freedom” of speech may sound simple enough in the abstract, but the implications are troubling.įor example, Musk’s understanding of free speech would validate conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s defense of his reckless and injurious lies, including his outrageous claim that the 2012 Newtown school massacre, in which a gunman murdered 26 people (20 of them six- and seven-year-olds), was staged by “ crisis actors.” A Connecticut court has just rejected that view, ordering Jones to pay nearly $1 billion to the families of the Newtown victims. Marjorie Taylor Greene from using the platform to propagate demonstrable lies and disinformation in the name of free speech. ![]() And so, as a self-described “ free-speech absolutist,” Musk claims to be saving society’s public square by reversing Twitter’s policies to prohibit politicians like former President Donald Trump and Rep. ![]()
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