The 3 Body Problem's Chilling Social Media Parallel
From struggle sessions to cancel culture, the story depicts the terrors of surveillance authoritarianism.
Social Media
The Bad Science Behind Jonathan Haidt's Call to Regulate Social Media
Only 22 of the 476 studies in The Anxious Generation contain data on either heavy social media use or serious mental issues among adolescents, and none have data on both.
FBI Agent Says He Hassles People 'Every Day, All Day Long' Over Facebook Posts
"It's just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will," he claimed.
Parents Don't Want Schools to Confiscate Kids' Phones
A new survey highlights how fear-based parenting drives phone-based childhoods.
More on Coercion, Social Media, and Freedom of Speech: Rejoinder to Philip Hamburger
Prof. Hamburger continues to conflate coercion and voluntary choice.
Abridgement, Coercion, and Freedom of Speech: Reply to Philip Hamburger
Prof. Hamburger is wrong to argue that the use of the word "abridgment" implies that noncoercive government persuasion directed at social media firms violates the First Amendment.
Ron DeSantis Signs Social Media Age-Verification Bill
The law would require platforms to use invasive measures to prevent most teenagers under 16 from making social media accounts and bar all minors from sexually explicit sites.
Dating Apps Are Horrible. A Colorado Bill Would Make Them Worse.
The problem is the users, not the apps.
Truth Social Can Be Yours
Plus: NYC squatters, sex differences and chess ability, trouble at the ACLU, and more...
The Supreme Court Should Reject Clandestine Government Censorship of Online Speech
The Biden administration’s social media meddling went far beyond "information" and "advice."
'Hamstringing the Government': A Viral Narrative Distorts Ketanji Brown Jackson's Understanding of Free Speech
If partisans have one thing in common, it's confirmation bias.
Supreme Court Says Officials Who Block Critics on Social Media Might Be Violating the First Amendment
The justices established guidelines for determining whether that is true in any particular case.
Court Should Focus on Coercion in Murthy v. Missouri
The government is entitled to try to persuade social media to take down posts, but not to coerce them to do so.
SCOTUS Ponders Whether the Biden Administration Coerced Social Media Platforms To Censor Speech
Several justices seemed concerned that an injunction would interfere with constitutionally permissible contacts.
The CCP Sucks. So Does Banning TikTok.
Plus: A listener asks about Republicans and Democrats monopolizing political power in the United States.
The New York Times Again Worries That Free Speech Endangers Democracy
The newspaper portrays the constitutional challenge to the government's social media meddling as a conspiracy by Donald Trump's supporters.
Banning TikTok Would Give the Feds Way Too Much Power
"It's a disturbing gift of unprecedented authority to President Biden and the Surveillance State," said Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.).
Algorithm Not for Sale
Plus: Kamala Harris' abortion clinic visit, Karl Marx's hypocrisy, CDC data struggles, and more...
TikTok's Opponents Want Chinese-style Censorship in America
Instead of freeing Americans from censorship, the TikTok bill would tighten the U.S. government's control over social media.
YouTube Algorithm Steers People Away From Radical Content
Another blow to the idea that algorithms are driving our political dysfunction.
FIRE Highlights the Blatant Hypocrisy of State Officials Who Decry Government Meddling With Social Media
Even as they attack the Biden administration's crusade against "misinformation," Missouri and Louisiana defend legal restrictions on content moderation.
Lawsuit Hobbles Utah's Plan To Mandate Age Verification Online
"Laws like this don't solve the problems they try to address but only make them worse," says a Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression attorney.
Dear Government: Stop Trying To Make TikTok Bans Happen
A new bill would ban TikTok and give the president power to declare other social media apps off limits.
Nate Silver: Libertarians Are the Real Liberals
"People are not in politics for truth-seeking reasons," argues the data journalist and author of On The Edge: The Art of Risking Everything.
DeSantis Vetoed a Social Media Age-Verification Law, but That Doesn't Mean He Won't Sign a New One
A law forcing kids off social media sites is still likely coming to Florida.
Milei Closes State News Agency Télam for 'Spreading Propaganda'
"It is immoral that in a poor country like ours," the Argentine president said, "the government spends the people's money to buy the will of journalists."
Supreme Court Looks Poised To Gut Restrictive Social Media Laws
The First Amendment restricts governments, not private platforms, and respects editorial rights.
Texas and Florida Say the First Amendment Must Be Sacrificed to Save It
Supreme Court arguments about two social media laws highlight a dangerous conflation of state and private action.
The Best of Reason: Why Are Teens Depressed? It's Not Social Media.
Maybe the problem for teens isn't screens, but what they are replacing.
Most Justices Seem Skeptical of the Florida and Texas Social Media Laws
The Supreme Court seems inclined to recognize that content moderation is protected by the First Amendment.
Land of the Negative
Plus: Migrant resettlement, Tom Cotton op-ed scandal, oppressors-in-training, and more...
Supreme Court Seems Likely to Strike Down Florida and Texas Social Media Laws
The laws violate the First Amendment because they require social media sites to abjure most content moderation, and platform speech they disapprove of.
Texas and Florida Want the Supreme Court To Bless Their Unconstitutional Social Media Laws
Both states are trying to force tech companies to platform certain sorts of speech.
Progressives Are Ditching Free Speech To Fight 'Disinformation'
From limits on liability protections for websites to attempts to regulate the internet like a public utility, these proposals will erode Americans' right to express themselves.
Shrinkflation Is Real—and It's Largely Biden's Fault
The president criticized companies for selling "smaller-than-usual products" whose "price stays the same." But it was his and his predecessor's spending policies that caused the underlying issue.
Shoshana Weissmann: Online Age Verification Rules Are Unconstitutional and Ineffective
"None of these laws prevent kids from viewing anything. They just prevent kids from posting," argues Shoshana Weissmann.
Kids Have First Amendment Rights Too, Federal Judge Reminds State Lawmakers
Banning people under age 16 from accessing social media without parental consent "is a breathtakingly blunt instrument" for reducing potential harms, the judge writes.
Why Are Teens Depressed? It's Not Social Media.
Maybe the problem for teens isn't screens, but what they are replacing.
Nanny State Social Media Mandates Are No Substitute for Effective Parenting
Throughout Republican-run Western states, lawmakers are passing legislation that treats adults as if they are children.
Was Amazon 'Free to Ignore' White House Demands That It Suppress Anti-Vaccine Books?
The Biden administration's interference with bookselling harks back to a 1963 Supreme Court case involving literature that Rhode Island deemed dangerous.
AI Versus Age-Verification Laws
AI tools churning out images of fake IDs could help people get around online age-check laws.
Trump's Terrible, Popular Tariffs
Plus: A listener asks if it should become the norm for all news outlets to require journalists to disclose their voting records.
He Was Arrested for Making a Joke on Facebook. A Jury Just Awarded Him $205,000 in Damages.
The verdict vindicates the constitutional rights that Louisiana sheriff's deputies flagrantly violated when they hauled Waylon Bailey off to jail.
Mark Zuckerberg Is Not a Murderer, Mr. Senator
Republicans and Democrats are using emotional manipulation to push an agenda of censorship.
Florida's Youth Social Media Ban Is an Affront to Freedom
Don't let a moral panic shut everything down.
She Was Arrested for Her Journalism. A Federal Court Says She Can't Sue.
Priscilla Villarreal, also known as "Lagordiloca," has sparked a debate about free speech and who, exactly, is a journalist.
An Instagram Star Walks the Fine Line Between Self-Creation and Snake Oil
Social media influencer Caroline Calloway might not be a reliable narrator, but Scammer is an honest memoir nevertheless.
