New York's Governor Wants to 'Silence' Constitutionally Protected Speech
In response to the Buffalo massacre, Gov. Kathy Hochul invoked a hoary analogy to justify censorship.
Hate Speech
Trial Court Focused Too Much on Racial Slurs by Defendant Towards Police Officers
So holds the California Court of Appeal, in sending back to a different judge defendant's motion to retroactively downgrade her conviction (for non-slur resistance to the officers) to a misdemeanor.
Why Hate Speech Laws Backfire
A new history of free speech argues the best way to defeat hate speech is by openly confronting it in the public square.
Jacob Mchangama: How Hate Speech Laws Punish Minorities
In the new book Free Speech, the Danish activist defends radical self-expression from Socrates to social media.
U.K. Officials Want Even More Power To Punish You for Being Mean Online
A Scottish man was just convicted for tweeting an insult about a dead person. The authorities already have too much power to censor.
Bob Corn-Revere: How Today's Censors Hide Behind Science and Psychology
In The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder, the legendary First Amendment lawyer exposes the tricks of today's "anti-free speech movement."
Showing "20 Shocking China Facts You Don't Know" Video in Class Led to Firing of Minnesota Teacher,
though an arbitrator reduced this to a 40-day suspension.
Teacher Suspended Partly for Quoting (on Personal Facebook Page) Bernie Sanders' "Woman … Fantasizes Being Raped" Essay
"The undersigned finds that despite Mr. Caggiano's belief that his post makes an important point [criticizing] Bernie Sanders, the undersigned finds that it can be logically read to be patently offensive, discriminatory, and degrading to women."
Zoom Conversation Today (Noon Pacific) with Nadine Strossen, Former ACLU Head
The conversation will be about Prof. Strossen's Journal of Free Speech Law article, "The Interdependence of Racial Justice and Free Speech for Racists," and it will be with Profs. Jane Bambauer, Ash Bhagwat, and me.
Connecticut "Racial Ridicule" Ban Challenged in Federal Court
The law is unconstitutional as written—but it has also been used by prosecutors far beyond its specific terms.
Why Are the Media Treating 'Let's Go Brandon' Like Criminal Hate Speech?
The anti-Biden slogan is clearly protected by the First Amendment.
Realtors Group Hearing "Hate Speech" "Ethics Complaint" Against Pastor-Realtor …
for saying "LGBTQ+" "Pride" message is "against our biblical doctrine."
Eyewitnesses with Their Backs Turned
An interesting "harassment, intimidate, or bullying" investigation case from New Jersey schools. (Corrected version of a post initially put up yesterday.)
Eyewitnesses with Their Backs Turned
An interesting “harassment, intimidate, or bullying” investigation case from New Jersey schools.
Social Media Isn't To Blame for the Deadly Stabbing of a British Member of Parliament
Attempts by British lawmakers to erase online anonymity would lead to radical speech being pushed underground.
TikTok 'Hatescape' Hype Ignores Important Details
A new analysis reportedly showing a huge proportion of TikTok content is racist tells us nothing about the overall prevalence of extremist and bigoted content on the app.
Facebook Oversight Board: "Fucking Chinese" Referring to Chinese Government Not Forbidden by Facebook Rules
"It is crucial to ensure that prohibitions on targeting people based on protected characteristics not be construed in a manner that shields governments or institutions from criticism."
Facebook Will Now Ban Criticism of "Concepts, Institutions, Ideas, Practices, or Beliefs" When They Risk "Harm, Intimidation, or Discrimination" Against Religious, National, or Other Groups
This includes "burning a national flag or religious texts, caricatures of religious figures, or criticism of ideologies."
The World Loves Free Speech—Except When They're Offended
Americans oppose restrictions, but report feeling less free to speak about political matters.
Censor of Anti-China Speech Among Us
Two Illinois legislators meet with a high school principal complaining about an anti-China poster distributed by a student group, which promptly loses its faculty sponsor and has to
Prince Harry's First Amendment Aversion Is Funny; the Governments That Agree Are Scary
We expect British royals to favor muzzling commoners, but too many lawmakers feel the same way.
Teen Arrested Under Connecticut's Unconstitutional Hate Speech Law for Racist Social Media Post
Calling a classmate a racist slur on Snapchat is offensive. It’s also protected speech.
Another "Racial Ridicule" Arrest in Connecticut, This One for an Online Insult
But the "racial ridicule" statute under which this is happening (1) by its terms doesn't cover such speech, and (2) if it did, it would be unconstitutional.
Baltimore Prosecutor Asking FCC to Investigate TV Station for Criticizing Her
The elected prosecutor (Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby) is claiming that the station's coverage of her is "blatantly slanted, dishonest, misleading, racist, and extremely dangerous."
N.Y. Court Pressuring Mother to Remove Rock with Small Painted Confederate Flag
"Given that the child is of mixed race, it would seem apparent that the presence of the flag is not in the child's best interests, as the mother must encourage and teach the child to embrace her mixed race identity, rather than thrust her into a world that only makes sense through the tortured lens of cognitive dissonance."
John McWhorter on Cursing, Anti-Racism, and Why 'We Need to Stop Being So Afraid'
Columbia University linguist John McWhorter on "anti-racism" as a new, misguided civic religion and his new book on curses, Nine Nasty Words.
Our Right to Criticize Governments and Countries,
whether the U.S., China, Israel, or anyone else.
New Colorado Bill Would Create Commission to Restrict "Hate Speech," "Fake News," "Conspiracy Theories" on Social Media Platforms
The bill was introduced by Colorado Senate president pro tem Kerry Donovan (who is also running for Congress).
May N.Y. Businesses Fire Employees for Using Parler and Gab?
Colleen Oefelein was fired by the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, and the incident illustrates the vagueness of New York law on this point.
"The Law School Acknowledges That the Racial and Gender References on the Examination Were Deeply Offensive"
A controversy at the University of Illinois Chicago John Marshall Law School (not to be confused with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
