Below is my column in Fox.com on the potentially historic change in policy at Meta to restore free speech protections. As one of the longest and loudest critics of the company over its censorship history, it is admittedly hard to trust. However, an alliance of Mark Zuckerberg with Elon Musk could prove the most important development for free speech
Here is the column:
“Faithful friends are hard to find.” For the free speech community, those words from Shakespeare have long been tragically true. Indeed, until Elon Musk bought Twitter (now X), we were losing ground around the world to an unprecedented anti-free speech coalition of government, corporate, media, and academic interests.
Now, Musk may have added a major new ally that could help turn the tide for free speech: Mark Zuckerberg.
In a new video, Meta’s CEO announced that the company would adopt X standards and restore free speech protections across Facebook, Instagram, and Meta platforms. Meta will also end its third-party fact-checking program, introduce a ‘community notes’ system, and focus on removing criminal and fraudulent material—the very guidelines proposed by some of us in prior years.
For the free speech community, it was like the United States entering World War II to support Great Britain. Where Musk stopped the progress of the global anti-free speech movement, Zuckerberg could actually help us regain ground around the world.
As one of Zuckerberg’s most vocal critics over free speech, it is admittedly hard to trust. We all love redemptive sinners, but it would be more impressive if the redemption preceded the apprehension.
So allow me a brief cathartic moment…
In the last few years, a mix of House investigations and litigation has forced more of the censorship system under the Biden Administration into public view. That is expected to draw even greater attention with the continued discovery in Missouri v. Biden, showing years of false statements about the extent of this government-corporate alliance across social media platforms.
In my recent book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, I wrote about Zuckerberg and Meta’s record on censorship, including their failure (until recently) to release the Facebook files.
Meta resisted efforts to uncover this evidence for years, even after Musk released the Twitter Files and revealed a censorship system described by one court as perfectly “Orwellian.”
While Zuckerberg portrayed Meta as an unwilling partner in this censorship system in his video, he and the company ignored many years of objections from many of us regarding the critical role the company plays in targeting and censoring opposing viewpoints.
Facebook even ran a creepy ad campaign to try to convince young people to embrace what they call “content modification” as part of their evolution with technology. It did not work.
When the anti-free speech movement targeted Musk, Zuckerberg did nothing for years. Fearing that other companies might restore free speech protections, members of Congress, including now Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), sent a chilling letter to Facebook stating that it should not even consider such a move or risk becoming “part of our ongoing oversight efforts.”
In a November 2020 Senate hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), D-Conn., warned Zuckerberg and other CEOs that he and his Senate colleagues would not tolerate any “backsliding or retrenching” by “failing to take action against dangerous disinformation.”
While Musk defied those threats, the pressure seemed to work with Zuckerberg. It was not until the Republicans won both houses and the White House that Zuckerberg and Meta decided that free speech was worth fighting for.
In his exclusive interview with Fox News, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, admitted that the Trump election changed the situation for Meta: “We have a new administration coming in that is far from pressuring companies to censor and [is more] a huge supporter of free expression.”
It is a chilling statement if one thinks of what might have happened if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, arguably the most anti-free speech ticket in history, had won. The suggestion is that the new spring at Meta would have turned into a frozen tundra for free speech.
Around the world, free speech is in a free fall. Speech crimes and censorship have become the norm in the West. A new industry of “disinformation” experts has commoditized censorship, making millions in the targeting and silencing of others. An anti-free speech culture has taken root in government, higher education, and the media.
We will either hold the line now or we will lose this indispensable right for future generations. Zuckerberg could make this a truly transformative moment but it will take more than a passing meta-culpa.
We need Zuckerberg now more than ever. So, with that off my chest, I can get to what I have longed to say: Mr. Zuckerberg, welcome to the fight.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
I don’t trust Zuk….
But I do trust Jonathan Turley! Indeed, the only Democrat I do trust!
Anyone who seriously believes that either Zuck or Musk cares the slightest bit about free speech is simply incorrigible.
Agree.
I truly hope that Mark Zuckerberg has had a sincere change of heart, and that his sudden appreciation for free speech Is not just an effort to acquiesce to the incoming Trump Administration, and avoid losing market share as conservatives are more confident in demanding their right to free speech.
Karen you are not a “conservative”— you are a member of MAGA—a cult of personality that was aided and abetted by MAGA media created by billionaires to get tax breaks and rolling back of consumer and environmental protections by selling DJT. They invested billions to get Trump elected based on lies and racism.
“Freedom of speech “ in MAGA world means the freedom to lie without pushback from media over fear of being targeted by Trump and being entangled in litigation and the risk of being attacked by the FCC over their license.
You’ve had the benefit of MAGA media and the lies it puts out for years— proven by your posts that parrot the lies and misinformation you just heard. What you haven’t had is social media and mainstream media publishing these lies— they fact-check Trump who constantly lies about everything. Turley was hired to give credence MAGA lies and to sell the idea that fact-checking Trump equates to censorship. It doesn’t. Responsible journalism requires factchecking—something social media has been doing—but no more.
Bite me, twit.
Talking about cult, and total lack of self awareness.
Harris spent $2B on this election – and most of it came from Billionaires. Democrats spent $10B and most of it came from Billionaires.
MSNBC falls off the left edge of the world, CNN is not far behind, CBS and NBC may not be extreme far left – but they are far left.
So what is this massive MAGA media ? Fox may be slightly right of center – but the Murdocks are not and never have been Trump fans. Fox may be more friendly to MAGA than MSNBC but they are NOT MAGA freindly.
While you are correct that MAGA is the dominant politics today – with approximately 40% of people supporting it – which makes ir about tripple the support of woke leftists, it does not have a majority and it does not have a real significant presence in the Main Stream Media. Further even the giants of alternate media – the Rogan’s and the severral large podcasts that are even further left – are most definitely NOT MAGA.
While there is zero doubt there is a growing conservative and MAGA presence in the media – it is NOT within the traditional Media. It is NOT the Billionaires club Media. It is pretty much entirely the upstarts.
I would also note that the majority of the alternate media that actually gives Trump and MAGA a fair shake, is NOT itself MAGA. All it is is not lopsidedly pro left wing nuts and willing to air a variety of different perspectives.
Put simply you have a delusional view of the world. While this election was Trump’s to lose, and it would be very hard for him to lose it. With respect to Media support – it was a David vs Goliath contest – and Goliath was on the side of democrats.
There is SOME small hope that in the next 4 years the MSM though standing Zero Chance of being pro Trump, will at the very least NOT go full bull moose goose looney on nonsensical conspiracy theories like the Collusion Delusion.
The MSM has its last shot at relevance, the next step is death. If they can not shift from card carrying membership in woke left wing nonsense to atleast a small degree of objectivity, they are doomed.
They good news for the country is they have lost the trust of the american people. They must earn it back or die.
If they repeat the mistakes of the past 8 years – they are toast.
If they repeat the mistakes of the past 8 years – no one will listen.
The big deal about Trump’s upcoming presidency is that his appointments are designed to assure that it will not be derailed by loonacy.
This will NOT be 2017 all over again – there will be no special counsel appointed to pretend that a left wing hoax is real.
The left has “shot its wad”. You have done everything possible to take down Trump and failed.
Almost no one is listening to you. You have no power left to interfere.
While in the short run that is a good thing.
In the long run it is actual essential that Democrats restore their own credibility.
Doing that requires NOT LYING. It requires NOT abusing whatever power you have.
It requires getting past the nonsense that you are going to handicap you political opponents in lawfare..
You no longer have the credibility to do so.
But in the long run we can not have one party rule. It takes credible opposition – regardless of which party is in power to prevent the party in power from going too far. Democrats have lost power – because they went too far.
Trump can do the same. That is actually unlikely. But if democrats remain distrust3ed liars long enough the republicans will make mistakes.
John Say,
Well said. I read Gigi’s comment after reading your for context. She never names who these alleged billionaires are and what are these MAGA media news outlets. Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, Sharyl Attkisson, The Free Press to which I have a paid subscription, are certainly not billionaires nor are they “MAGA media.” What they are, are real, objective journalists pointing out what MSM refuses to mention as if they did, they would have to abandon their advocacy journalism and the DNC narrative. You are absolutely correct about how MSM has lost the public’s trust after having to lied to the public and tried over and over again to gaslight them. Then, talking down to the public, accusing them of being whatever-ist and lecturing to them is not a way to win back their trust. No wonder so may American’s have switch MSM off.
Objective??? Ok, whatever you say for your little world, Bubba. MAGA is tech bros, Vivisection, Musky, and the shadow billionaires. Atkisson is a bunch of legs like all Fox “reporters”. White men like you go for T and A and they know it. Ima Americuhn , ima built this country. Yeah sure, all of us came here, benefitting from land we stole fair and square.
MAGA is not conservative. Big government, big spending, more debt, more borrowing. MAGA is a vehicle to get America back to the 50s with big attitudes, fast cars, devil may care attitudes, libertarian hatred of government and controls on any of our impulses. Drill baby drill. Climate change is a fraud. Let’s take over some nations. Get Brown Man and his culture out, bad enough we have to deal with black culture. Basically i want to do anything i want. And i didn’t care about your laws.
And now we see what Murdoch is paying Turley all of that money for— to sell the idea that promoting MAGA lies is a good thing—something that the Constitution protects as “free speech “. So all of the social media owners are going to back down and publish Trump and MAGA propaganda and lies and refuse to fact-check them anymore because Trump doesn’t like being fact checked. Fact checking exposes Trump as the lying loser he really is. Well, lies and propaganda, published by MAGA media are what got Trump “elected” so billionaires can get their tax cuts and regulations cut. Turley is paid to lend credence to the plot—but Trump is still a liar and it is still wrong to publish lies. Social media should not allow itself to be used to promote lies.
And now we see why Biden awarded George Soros the Medal of Freedom to sell the idea that promoting lies is a good thing—something that the Constitution protects as “free speech,“ but gullible people like Gigi, eat up the slop and spit it out on this blog, courtesy of the kindness of Jonathan Turley.
What did George Soros lie about? Trump lied today about Ashli Babbitt “trying to hold back the crowd “. Trump’s Big Lie is responsible for her death. His lie about her death will be used as an excuse to pardon the criminals who attacked the Capitol and police officers.
Troll alert. Troll alert.
A hed core Lefty trying to engage conservatives. Ignore her and she might crawl back Into the woodwork
“gullible people like Gigi, eat up the slop and SPIT it out on this blog,”
I think you may have misspelled a word there…
spit is appropriate. it is not past-tense, as in spat. your error, not mine,
I think he meant replace H instead of P….
“it is not past-tense”
I wasn’t referring to verb tense; I was thinking that you might have meant the second letter to be an “h”…
In the future people are going to look back and wonder how Americans looked past all the retar*ed things this man said while caking his face with orange dye.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/01/05/multimedia/05dc-biden-trump-mtcz/05dc-biden-trump-mtcz-superJumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
There is free speech, then there is lying through their teeth. That may explain why Blacks like Hakeem Jeffries why he lies: he knows who his masters are. Otherwise the Democrats will lynch him. That is their history after all.
#LiveNotByLies
Notable & Quotable: Hakeem Jeffries’s Election Denier Denial
‘Right-wing extremists are publicly plotting to steal the next Presidential election.’
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaking on the House floor after the election of Mike Johnson as speaker, Jan. 3:
Two months ago, the American people elected Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States of America. Thank you for that very generous applause. It’s OK. There are no election deniers on our side of the aisle. You see, one should love America. One should love America when you win and when you lose. That’s the patriotic thing to do, and that’s the America that House Democrats will fight hard to preserve because we love this country.
From Mr. Jeffries’s tweets:
March 22, 2017:
With legitimacy of Trump’s presidential election in doubt, his lifetime appt to Supreme Court can wait #FilibusterGorsuch #StopGorsuch
Feb. 16, 2018:
The more we learn about 2016 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE President in the Oval Office #RussianInterference
Sept. 28, 2018:
LIE (more than any administration in the history of the Republic). CHEAT (2016 election/Russian Interference). STEAL (one or two Supreme Court seats). When will Republicans put country ahead of party? #CleanUpCorruption
Aug. 13, 2020:
It’s now clear.
The effort to destroy the Post Office is part of a continuing conspiracy to steal the election.
From the most corrupt administration in American history.
The entire crime family must be held accountable.
Nov. 24, 2020:
Keep pouting.
History will never accept you as a legitimate President.
Sept. 14, 2021:
Republicans hijacked the Judiciary by stealing two Supreme Court seats.
And now they want us to respect illegitimate decisions from these people?
Get lost.
Oct. 10, 2022:
Right-wing extremists are publicly plotting to steal the next Presidential election.
Dems in Congress are the only thing standing between their treachery and the loss of our democracy.
Wall Street Journal
No wonder so many Democrats like Lindy Li have left the DNC Cult.
Someone brought receipts.
The great thing about free speech is you can spread as much disinformation as you want.
GFY.
And that is why Murdoch pays Turley so much money–to sell the dissemination of lies and misinformation as worthy of Constitutional protection.
“As one of the longest and loudest critics of the company over its censorship history, it is admittedly hard to trust. However, an alliance of Mark Zuckerberg with Elon Musk could prove the most important development for free speech.”
*****************************
Zuck is a reed in the wind. It’s blowing from freedom now. He’ll be just as pliable when it’s the tyrants creating the crosswind. Don’t trust those who worship money and power. They always, always, always, disappoint.
I love the idea of people like Adam Schiff, Richard Blumenthal, and Sheldon Whitehouse collectively clutching their pearls because of their threats possibly falling on deaf ears. And they don’t understand that America was not built upon government censorship. As a group, they are three of the most anti-American Senators still hanging around Washington.
Yes, I equate free speech for all as being American. Those who disagree on that point are exhibiting anti-Americanism. Those Senators know that Congress is not allowed to pass any law that attempts to constrain free speech. And their yelling about so-called disinformation? It’s still speech, and ought to be free.
Since the Missouri vs Biden case was mentioned, I would hope for the following: The case does not get resolved before Donald Trump becomes President. Then Trump orders his incoming Solicitor General to open up all the federal government’s files related to this case to the public, as part of a consent decree with Missouri and the rest of the nation, and agrees that the Federal government is not allowed to act in a censorious manner again. Additionally, that any individual within the federal government that violates that consent decree is automatically terminated from their position within the federal government, and is permanently ineligible to work for or with any federal government contractor. Also, if it takes any period of time beyond one day to complete the termination procedure, the miscreant is liable for claw-back of any funds paid to them after the date of their violation.
I can’t wait to swim in the Gulf of Trump. That new body of water discovered by none other than trump himself.
After my swim I’m going to visit our newest state, Greenland, which trump says he will steel from our ally Denmark.
Then I’ll get to buy a toy from China that traversed the Panama Canal (in a Chinese ship), that we now control thanks to the war trump waged, killing about a million Panamanians to get. Yea trump, he will fix the world.
I see you took the bait, the question was do you commit to not using military or ECONOMIC COERCION. I think you meant steal not steel, that’s what you now buy from China. Refresh your memory as to what economic coercion is, no more US dollars or meet our demands. It is obviously a national security concern, times are changing with hypersonic missiles and gravitational propulsion.
Come to think of it, the Golf of Trump is an excellent idea!
Musk’s Twitter is not a forum for free speech.
Why did he follow the Indian government’s demands to suppress a BBC documentary critical of Modi?
https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/25/23571103/elon-musk-twitter-india-social-media-bbc-documentary-modi-censorship
Is this not precisely what he criticized the prior Twitter leadership of doing?
The only difference I can tell is that, in this case, the request was made by a right-wing government rather than a left-wing government.
It is unfortunate that Professor Turley does not call out Musk’s grossly partisan censorship at the helm of Twitter.
To the extent we could expect those who were fearful of authority and abided by their tyrannical dictates to now show acquiesces, makes me question their true intentions? I’ll leave that to others.
“Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’, don’t mean nothin’ hon’ if it ain’t free, no-no”.
Kris Kristofferson: “Me and Bobby McGee”.
One more word on freedom: Wendell Willkie ‘One World’
“Freedom is an indivisible word. If we want to enjoy it, and fight for it, we must be prepared to extend it to everyone, whether they are rich or poor, whether they agree with us or not, no matter what their race or the colour of their skin”.
My regards to the Professor for his standing up.
“President-elect Donald Trump refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal on Tuesday in a rambling media appearance during which he also complained about electric heaters that cause itching, suggested that the Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah was involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, and continued his lying about the criminal cases against him.”
Thank goodness for trump. Finally somebody will take care of that nasty itching caused by electric heaters. I sure hope he bans electric heaters This will truly Make America Great Again.
You should consider Trumpenol. it’s available in capsule form on Amazon and it’s perfect for a TDS sufferers.
Side effects can include mental clarity and less hostility.
What? You’re not looking forward to no more itching from electric heaters?
Your cult leader said it, so A) it’s true, and B) tomorrow when he says he never said it, he never said it.
Plus in cream form it reduces itching caused by electric heaters. Applied generously to all those uncomfortable and hard to reach spots. Buy now and get a second tube absolutely free, postage and handling costs apply. Not sold in New York,California, Denmark, Canada and Panama.
Potassium cyanide is equally effective. It does have a few nasty side effects for the TDS sufferer, but those are quite limited in duration, and the rest us get to enjoy guaranteed permanent relief…
You should consider Trumpenol. it’s available in capsule form on Amazon and it’s perfect for a TDS sufferers.
Side effects can include mental clarity and less hostility.
This is probably a bot, but I love that he attributes Trumpism to less hostility in response to a comment about Trump not ruling out the use of military force to attack an ally.
This bot has an algorithm that responds to moronic comments by anonymous people. Bingo! You qualify
It could just be a cost-cutting move. He can cut the fact-checking staff and turn over the clean language efforts to the AI he’s spent billions developing.
He’s also smart enough to realize that fighting Trump 2 was not going to be a good idea — if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Zuckerberg’s move may very well be cynical, or opportunistic. Yet by aligning himself with free speech, he is on far firmer ground than those corporations who prostrated themselves before the BLM and DEI momentary gods. DEI is withering away, and BLM has long since taken the money and run. The Constitution will endure.
“by aligning himself with free speech, he is on far firmer ground”
Another view is that the cretin sullies the idea of free speech merely by pretending to embrace it. Guess it depends on how much one despises that a$$ clown…
Turley appears somewhat reluctant to offer unqualified praise for Meta’s latest initiative aimed at enhancing their content moderation policies. Interestingly, he seems to overlook the fact that X (formerly Twitter) is also in the process of revising its own guidelines to minimize “negativity.” This shift raises questions, particularly in light of Trump’s anticipated return to office. Could this new definition of “negativity” specifically target dissenting opinions against Trump? Under Elon Musk’s leadership, there have been notable incidents of censorship aimed at critics, with accounts being suspended for expressing views that challenge Musk’s narrative. For instance, Rep. Laura Loomer faced censorship as a consequence of her critical commentary, illustrating a troubling trend where users with blue check marks are having their privileges stripped away for posting content that is unfavorable to Musk or his agenda. It’s clear that Turley is unlikely to address these issues unless he finds himself on the receiving end of similar treatment from X.
In contrast, I find it hard to believe that Meta will adopt policies that mirror those of X. Meta has historically been more cautious and is unlikely to tolerate the blatant racism and bigotry that have plagued X and driven away advertisers and businesses that rely on Facebook’s platform for outreach.
The anticipated changes from Meta seem to indicate a more structured approach than the policies implemented by X. Instead of a sweeping overhaul, Meta plans to roll out changes in phases, allowing them to make adjustments based on feedback and emerging issues as they arise. One has to wonder, though, if this strategy is simply a way to placate Trump and his erratic mood swings by providing him with a platform to boast about improvements. The situation remains uncertain, and the underlying motivations behind these policy revisions could reveal more than just a commitment to enhancing user experience.
Laura Loomer is not a representative.
“The anticipated changes from Meta seem to indicate a more structured approach than the policies implemented by X.”
I have no idea what that means. But that’s okay, because neither do you.
It is, though, an excellent example of your intellectually dishonest MO: Muddy your waters, to make them appear deep. (borrowed from Nietzsche)
Jonathan: So Zuckerberg has joined Musk as “a major new ally that could help turn the tide for free speech”? TRANSLATION: Zuckerberg, like Jeff Bezos, is trying to curry favor with the new DJT administration by willing to turn Facebook, Instagram and Meta into clones of X–cesspools of disinformation, racism and other forms of right wing propaganda that will support the Musk/DJT agenda. That, of course, will be good news for Bluesky.
You have long had a love affair with Elon Musk for allegedly bringing back “free speech” to his platform and eliminating censorship. In practice that hasn’t happened. That’s because Musk has a very thin skin when it comes to criticism of his posts on X. Here are the two latest examples.
Recently, Joni Askola, a Finnish graduate student, posted a criticism of Musk on X: “Elon Musk is rapidly becoming the largest spreader of disinformation in human history…The EU must take action”. Musk’s response: “Fu retard”. Seems Musk is using the “F” word quite often these days in response to criticism. After Musk received a lot of criticism for endorsing the H-1B visa program he responded: “Take a big step back and F…YOURSELF in the face”. Seems Musk likes to dish it out but can’t stand criticism when it is directed at him.
Then we have Musk’s use of censorship to silence critics on X. The Independent had a report two days ago about Jacqueline Sweet, a reporter with the Spectator. Sweet did an investigation and found Musk often uses the alias “Adrian Dittman” in his posts. Sweet’s investigation found Dittman was was a person living in Fiji–and Sweet reported her findings on her X account. Musk didn’t like Sweet’s post and banned her for a month–falsely claiming Sweet was “doxing” him. Sweet’s report amassed 1.5 million views when Musk took down her account.
Musk claims he is a “free speech absolutist”. That’s “absolutely” not true. On X these days the word is not to says anything bad about Elon–It’s against the rules!
Most of your examples aren’t free speech violations. Someone criticizes Musk on his platform and he profanely pushes back. That is the nature and essense of free speech.
Have you visited BlueSky? A site completely devoid of any modicum of relevance. A bunch of bitter progressives liking each other’s bitter deranged posts. I am so glad the unhinged progressives now have a place to roost.
A silo of echoes
Complimenting each other on their blue hair, nose rings and tofu recipes.
Dennis McIntyre’s happy place!
” I am so glad the unhinged progressives now have a place to roost.”
I’d prefer that they have a place to roast, but one cannot have everything…
Sweet’s doxing of *Dittman* violated X’s terms of service:
“You may not threaten to expose, incentivize others to expose, or publish or post other people’s private information without their express authorization and permission, or share private media of individuals without their consent.
“Sharing someone’s private information online without their permission, sometimes called “doxxing,” is a breach of their privacy and can pose serious safety and security risks for those affected.”
I thought the Left favored terms of service.
P.S. You and The Independent lied about who Sweet doxed and about why her account was suspended. Imagine that.
Meta does not make a little money from people posting vacation and family photos. They make money by collecting and selling information. They also make money from leasing their data centers. One of their biggest customers is the U.S. government.
He is making a smart play give the possibility of losing government contracts.
Pardon the thumb typing typos.
Meta does not make a lot of money from people posting….
Pardon the thumb typing
Their data centers are massive!
Let’s see if I get this right. Meta who has been willfully censoring anyone disagreeing with any Biden policy, has suddenly decided to change course and “return to its roots” allowing open, free discussion now that the Trump administration is about to return. As Everett Dirksen, the Senator from Illinois once said, “When I feel the heat I see the light”
The scariest item to jump out at me was the reminder that the Biden goons and other fascist-like Democrats were pressuring the sites to censor!! This is “Little Brother” action that is growing unabated in Europe. Of course they don’t have the 1st Amendment.
Just remember that 4 short years ago the Dems with Schumer and his senate colleagues were trying to end the filibuster and they fell Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema short. If they ended the filibuster they would have packed the Court and then you would have had 7 or 8 Sotomeyers and KJBs deciding what free speech is. In other words it would have been over. The government would have for example pressured censorship on companies, there would have been an action brought and the new Court would have decided that “misinformation” isn’t covered by the 1st A. End of story.
After reading the decisions and the dissents of the liberal Justices can anyone make the case that liberal jurists would not ignore the Constitution due to the new “danger” of mis or dis information. It would have been for Covid like situations, it would be for climate situations, it would be for racial situations etc etc etc.
Joel Kaplan admitted that this is nothing more than a reaction to the election results. That is a good argument for continuing to keep the Democrats out of power.
I have great respect for Joe Manchin and Kristen Sinema holding that line, against immense pressure from their own colleagues. It is chilling where we would be right now if a mere 2 people hadn’t gone against their party.
“It is chilling where we would be right now if a mere 2 people hadn’t gone against their party.”
While I have a ton of political disagreements with both, I must agree with your analysis.