January 23, 2024

Supreme Court

Fox News: GOP AGs asks Supreme Court to peel back content moderation from Big Tech in landmark First Amendment case

By Brianna Herlihy

.....A group of 20 Republican states are weighing in on a Supreme Court legal battle that could sharply alter the landscape of Big Tech’s content moderation. 

Next month, the high court will hear a set of cases that question whether state laws that limit Big Tech companies’ ability to moderate content on their platforms curbs the companies’ First Amendment liberties.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey – one of the Republican AGs leading the lawsuit against the Biden administration, alleging it engaged in a "vast censorship enterprise" – on Monday filed an amicus brief along with 19 of his colleagues in the cases, asking the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the laws meant to limit internet platform’s ability to moderate content. 

"If the Supreme Court lets social media companies silence speech, it will set a devastating anti-free speech precedent at a time when the First Amendment is under widespread attack," Bailey told Fox News digital on Monday. 

Reason: Democratic Attorneys General Support Censorship

By Michael Glennon

.....The share of U.S. adults who favor government intervention to restrict false information has grown 50 percent in the last five years, and Democrats are nearly twice as likely as Republicans to support that intervention. Democratic state officials are now taking action to urge the Supreme Court to roll back longstanding First Amendment freedoms, belying their party's claimed commitment to preserving democracy.

Representing the Democratic attorneys general of 21 other states plus the District of Columbia, New York Attorney General Letitia James recently filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court asking the Court to reverse the 5th Circuit's 2023 decision in Missouri v. Biden, which ordered the federal government to stop pressuring social media to censor disfavored speech. (On reaching the Supreme Court, the case is now called Murthy v. Missouri.)

Congress

Washington Post (Technology 202): Fake Biden robocall fuels calls for AI regulation

By Cristiano Lima-Strong

.....A wave of misleading robocalls in the New Hampshire primary mimicking the voice of President Biden is rekindling calls for artificial intelligence regulations ahead of the 2024 general election. 

As my colleague Meryl Kornfield reported Monday, voters in the state received calls ahead of the tally “from what sounded like a digitally generated voice impersonating President Biden that advised them not to vote.” The robocall told primary voters that it was “important that you save your vote for the November election.”

The office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella (R) said the “message appears to be artificially generated based on initial indications” and that his office is investigating it as an apparent “unlawful attempt to disrupt” the primary and “suppress New Hampshire voters.” 

The robocalls spotlighted how digitally altered or AI-generated media could be used to undermine the 2024 elections and reignited calls by officials for federal action. 

“It’s very clear that of all the potential problems posed by generative AI — deepfakes are the most immediate cause for concern,” Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-N.Y.) told The Technology 202.

EFF: The PRESS Act Will Protect Journalists When They Need It Most

By Joe Mullin

.....Our government shouldn’t be spying on journalists. Nor should law enforcement agencies force journalists to identify their confidential sources or go to prison. 

To fix this, we need to change the law. Now, we’ve got our best chance in years. The House of Representatives has passed the Protect Reporters from Exploitive State Spying (PRESS) Act, H.R. 4250, and it’s one of the strongest federal shield bills for journalists we’ve seen. 

Free Expression

Washington Post: How far should we be willing to go to silence Nazis?

By Megan McArdle

.....Checking my cellphone bill the other day, I found myself wondering just how many Nazis use the same service as me. Probably hundreds, since I use one of the three biggest cell providers in the country. What were the ethics, I wondered, of paying a company that was being used to spread hate?

If this question seems somewhat absurd to you, you probably haven’t been following the controversy over Nazis on Substack.

Candidates and Campaigns

Washington Post: OpenAI suspends bot developer for presidential hopeful Dean Phillips

By Elizabeth Dwoskin

.....The artificial intelligence company OpenAI banned the developer of a bot mimicking long shot Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dean Phillips — the first action that the maker of ChatGPT has taken in response to what it sees as a misuse of its AI tools in a political campaign.

The States

Post Register: New bill in Legislature aims to fight use of AI to manipulate political electioneering

By Clark Corbin, Idaho Capital Sun

.....A new bill in the Idaho Legislature is designed to combat the use of artificial intelligence generated deep fakes in electioneering to manipulate a candidate’s recorded speech, photos or videos.

On Wednesday afternoon, the House Judiciary, Rule and Administration Committee introduced a new bill that would allow a candidate to seek injunctive relief prohibiting the publication of the materials and seek damages if that candidate’s image, appearance or speech has been manipulated using artificial intelligence or digital technology to create “a fundamentally different understanding” that did not occur in reality.