Australian Censors Back Down, Highlighting the U.S. as a Free Speech Haven
Officials suspend efforts to force X to suppress the world’s access to video of a crime.
Social Media
California YouTuber Faces 10 Years for Having Too Much Fun With Fireworks
The feds charged Alex Choi with “causing the placement of explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft” after he shot fireworks out of a helicopter into an empty desert.
Viral Story About Bogus Viral Story Was Also Bogus
Corey Harris attracted widespread news coverage—including from Reason—when a video showed him behind the wheel during a court hearing about a suspended license. Except he never had a license at all.
The Viral Story About a Defendant Driving With a Suspended License Was Fake News
Corey Harris' case should never have been a national news story to begin with.
Old Enough for a Gun, Too Young for TikTok: What's Legal for Teens in Your State?
From tattoos to abortions to gender expression, a confusing mess of laws govern which Americans are considered adults.
The Worst Section 230 Bill Yet
New bipartisan legislation would sunset Section 230 after next year.
Here's How the CIA Plans To Use Your Ad Tracking Data
The intelligence community is admitting that info from data brokers is sensitive but isn’t accepting hard limits on how to use it.
The Feds Are Talking to Social Media Companies Again
Unless the Supreme Court rules against this practice, it is certain to continue.
TikTok Asks Court To Declare Ban Unconstitutional
Congress is "silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate," the company argues.
Don't Co-Parent With Congress
Instead of lobbying for age verification and youth social media bans, parents can simply restrict their kids' smartphone use.
Should Free Speech Pessimists Look to Europe?
Calls from the left and right to mimic European speech laws bring the U.S. to a crossroads between robust First Amendment protections and rising regulation.
California's New Social Media Law Invites Expensive Lawsuits
Instead of trusting parents to manage their families, lawmakers from both parties prefer to empower the Nanny State.
Australia Tries To Censor the World
Local hostility to free speech may become a global problem.
Nina Jankowicz, Disinformation Czar, Is Back in Action
The American Sunlight Project contends that researchers are being silenced by their critics.
Ford Fischer: Why You Should Surveil the State
The News2Share cofounder is revolutionizing news coverage.
TikTok Gets 9 Months
Plus: Masking protesters, how Google Search got so bad, Columbia's anti-apartheid protests of the '80s, and more...
Worst 4/20 Ever
Plus: A listener asks the editors to steel man the case for the Jones Act, an antiquated law that regulates maritime commerce in U.S. waters.
China's Retribution
Plus: Homework liberation in Poland, Orthodox rabbi tells students to flee Columbia, toddler anarchy, and more...
If They Ban TikTok, Is Apple Next?
Banning companies for doing business with China is a bad path to start down.
Laws Requiring Social Media Firms to Host Content they Prefer to Exclude Violate the Takings Clause
Ethan Blevins of the Pacific Legal Foundation explains why. I myself have made similar arguments.
NPR's Katherine Maher Is Not Taking Questions About Her Tweets
"I am not in the newsroom," the embattled NPR chieftain said over and over again.
Regulating Smartphones? Jonathan Haidt vs. Libertarians
The author of The Anxious Generation argues that parents, schools, and society must keep kids off of social media.
New Privacy Rights Act Exempts Government and Gives More Power to the FTC
An interview with Consumer Choice Center Deputy Director Yaël Ossowski.
Social Media Platforms Have Property Rights Too
The push to regulate social media content infringes on rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.
Combat Disinformation With Better Norms, Not More Laws
Fight back through better information and discourse, not by empowering the government.
Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and Common Carriers: Response to Adam Candeub
If adopted by the Supreme Court, Prof. Candeub's approach would be a grave menace to freedom of speech.
Study: Social Media Don't Displace In-Person Hangouts for Teens
Teens who use social media heavily also spend the most in-person time with friends.
The 3 Body Problem's Chilling Social Media Parallel
From struggle sessions to cancel culture, the story depicts the terrors of surveillance authoritarianism.
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...
