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We have been a leading voice on explaining how government over-regulation of online speech threatens free expression, free association, and the open Internet. We’ve explained how increased, and more arbitrary regulation could chill free speech and increase the ability of politicians to manipulate the media, both old and new.
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Opinion Piece
California’s Social Media Bill Flies In The Face Of The First Amendment
California has officially joined the growing list of states attempting to regulate how social media companies run their platforms. The state’s proposed legislation, however, faces a major legal obstacle: the Constitution. California lawmakers are marching ahead with AB 2408, the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act. On June 28, the Judiciary Committee unanimously ...
Andy Jung
July 19, 2022
Opinion Piece
The Quest for a Better Online “Community”
Remember Justine Sacco? In December 2013, while sitting in Heathrow Airport, she tweeted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” She had ...
Corbin K. Barthold
May 16, 2022
Opinion Piece
Musk’s Free Speech Crusade
For Elon Musk, coming up with $44 billion was the easy part. What comes next, less so. To the delight of many conservatives, Musk has purchased Twitter and announced that ...
Corbin K. Barthold
April 26, 2022
Opinion Piece
Musk Makes the Mask Slip
Though he has just offered to buy Twitter for around $40 billion, it’s far from clear that Elon Musk knows how to run a social media platform. Speaking about his bid at ...
Corbin K. Barthold
April 17, 2022
Tech Policy Podcast
#322: Noah Phillips
FTC Commissioner
Commissioner Noah Phillips joins the show for a wide-ranging discussion about the Federal Trade Commission. ...
June 2, 2022
Latest Articles
Letter
Section 230 and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act
We write to address Rep. Cicilline’s June 15, 2022, response to your letter of June 14, in whichyou expressed well-founded concerns that the American Innovation and Choice Online Act(AICOA)—specifically Section 3(a)(3)—would be used to subvert or attack contentmoderation. While none of Rep. Cicilline’s arguments adequately address these concerns, wewould like to specifically highlight the inadequacy of his assertion that Section 230 wouldprotect against such abuses.Rep. Cicilline argues that ...
Ari Cohn and Berin Szóka
September 23, 2022
Opinion Piece
Two Dogmas Of The Free Speech Panic
Antonio García Martínez recently invited me on his podcast, The Pull Request. I was thrilled. Antonio is witty, charming, and intimidatingly brilliant (he was a PhD student in physics at Berkeley, and it shows). We did the episode, and we had a great time. But we never got to an important topic—Antonio’s take on free speech and the Internet. In April, Antonio released a piece on his Substack, Freeze peach and the Internet, in which he asserts the existence of a “‘content moderation’ ...
Corbin K. Barthold
July 21, 2022
Opinion Piece
California’s Social Media Bill Flies In The Face Of The First Amendment
California has officially joined the growing list of states attempting to regulate how social media companies run their platforms. The state’s proposed legislation, however, faces a major legal obstacle: the Constitution. California lawmakers are marching ahead with AB 2408, the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act. On June 28, the Judiciary Committee unanimously passed an amended version of the bill, tweaking several provisions. Next, AB 2408 must pass the ...
Andy Jung
July 19, 2022
Letter
National Emergencies Act reform in the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act
Recent revelations make clear that advisors to former President Trump fixated on emergency powers in their quest to overturn the results of the 2020 election. As specious as many of those arguments were, they highlight the dangerous overbreadth of the laws in the United States governing national emergencies. Under the post-Watergate National Emergencies Act, a president has unfettered discretion to declare a national emergency, which then unlocks more than 120 statutory powers dispersed throughout ...
Berin Szóka
June 15, 2022
Appearance
Broadband Breakfast on June 1, 2022 — The Supreme Court, Social Media and the Culture Wars
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas law banning social media companies from removing posts based on views expressed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM23N5ih1N0 See “Experts Reflect on Supreme Court Decision to Block Texas Social Media Bill,” Broadband Breakfast, June 2, 2022. Our Broadband Breakfast Live Online events take place on Wednesday at 12 Noon ET. Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation. Wednesday, June 1, 2022, 12 ...
Ari Cohn
June 1, 2022
Opinion Piece
What Is Section 230 and How Is It Different Than the First Amendment?
Although they overlap, Section 230 ultimately protects more online speech than the First Amendment. The ongoing negotiation by Elon Musk to purchase Twitter has reignited the debate around free speech on the Internet. In the US, the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Act are central to this discourse. People often conflate the two laws. As TechDirt’s Mike Masnik observes, “much of the time when people are complaining about Section 230 of the Communications ...
Andy Jung
May 27, 2022
Opinion Piece
Florida and Texas’ ‘Free Speech’ Social Media Laws Would Require Sites to Host Mass Shooting Videos
Texas has joined Florida among states with the largest school shootings in American history. Both states are governed by conservatives who insist that the Second Amendment is sacrosanct. But if either state took the First Amendment half as seriously, they wouldn't be attacking the constitutional rights of social media sites to remove content that helps cause mass shootings. The more people can watch the live streams of such shootings, the more children will ...
Berin Szóka
May 26, 2022
Podcast
Musk’s Moderation Musings (And Beyond)
Ever since his (putative) deal to buy Twitter was announced, Elon Musk has hijacked the debates around content moderation, the design of social media, and online speech. His comments on these subjects are a mish-mash of (sometimes contradictory) slogans. Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Berin Szóka, founder and president of TechFreedom, join the show for a more informed exploration of these topics. Along with host Corbin Barthold, ...