October 6, 2022

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This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].

In the News

So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast: What does the First Amendment protect on social media?

.....Does the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protect a private social media company’s right to moderate content on its platform? A new ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit says it does not, and that a Texas law preventing viewpoint discrimination on social media platforms is constitutional. The issue is likely bound for the Supreme Court, setting up what is arguably the most consequential First Amendment legal case in a half-century. Institute for Free Speech Chairman and Founder Brad Smith and George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin join us to debate the ruling and the future of free speech on the internet.

Congress

People United for Privacy: Media Misleads the Public About the DISCLOSE Act’s Threat to Free Speech

.....The most recent vote in the Senate on the DISCLOSE Act – the privacy-invading legislation that has been introduced and rejected in every Congress since 2010 – inspired some of the worst reporting ever on the bill and its impact on Americans’ First Amendment rights. Major outlets made elementary mistakes that misled their readers about basic provisions in the legislation. Indeed, the average news consumer could be forgiven for thinking the Senate had just rejected a proposal to force super PACs to publicly reveal their major donors, because that’s exactly how many outlets described it. Consider just three prominent examples:

House Oversight Committee Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee Hearing: Free Speech Under Attack (Part III): The Legal Assault on Environmental Activists and the First Amendment

.....Congressman Raskin and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee on SLAPP suits.

Free Expression

Reason: A Campus Pro-Life Group Faced Criticism. Now, It Demands That Its Detractors Be 'Reprimanded.'

By Emma Camp

.....A chapter of Students for Life at Virginia's George Mason University (GMU) is trying to pressure the college to censor another student club—in the name of the First Amendment.

Reason ("Volokh Conspiracy"): Professor's Prior Restraint Lawsuit Against Collin College Can Go Forward

By Eugene Volokh

.....The professor, Joseph Michael Phillips, had spoken about Confederate memorials, race relations, a shooting, and masks.

From Judge Amos Mazzant's decision Monday in Phillips v. Collin Community College Dist. (E.D. Tex.) (see also Keith Whittington's post on the underlying controversy, and my post from when the lawsuit was filed):

Fundraising

New York Times: Online Fund-Raising Was Supposed to Save Politics. Instead, It’s Dragging Us to Hell.

By Tim Miller

.....The overwhelmingly positive narrative about the power of small-dollar online fund-raising began to congeal: Grass-roots fund-raising is pure and good. Big-dollar donations from corporate cronies are suspect. This is what democracy looks like!!!

As it turned out, grass-roots fund-raising is also what ending democracy looks like. As with any other mass movement, people-powered campaigns followed the standard Hofferian trajectory: beginning as a cause, turning into a business and becoming a racket. Our online fund-raising system is not only enriching scam artists, clogging our inboxes and inflaming the electorate; it is also empowering our politics’ most nefarious actors.

Online Speech Platforms

Politico: Three reasons Washington is freaking out about Elon Musk right now

By Rebecca Kern

.....Elon Musk’s expected takeover of Twitter has Washington holding its breath...

[T]he platform looks like it’s headed for major changes that could shape the upcoming midterms — and 2024 presidential elections — especially if Trump is allowed back.

Wall Street Journal: The Climate-Change Censorship Campaign

By The Editorial Board

.....The left increasingly wants Silicon Valley to deploy its mute buttons as a way to stifle opposition, especially on climate. If the platforms give in, they’ll be begging the next Republican Congress to rewrite the liability shield under Section 230. Sen. Josh Hawley proposed a bill in 2019 to make internet sites get a federal certificate proving lack of bias. This is a bad idea, but one that the continuing censorship push is doing its best to popularize.

Bloomberg: Facebook Is the Only Game in Town for Digital Political Ads

By Anna Edgerton

.....A decade ago political campaigns loved Facebook for its ability to turn clicks into donations and email lists of likely voters. But in interviews, a dozen ad agency executives and digital strategists say they now see a platform that offers a fraction of its previous return, because a stagnating user base and policy changes have made it harder to target specific kinds of voters...

Meta also has special rules for political ads, including transparency requirements that stem from foreign and dark-money efforts to undermine the democratic process, and a ban on new ads in the final days before an election. In January of this year, Meta removed the option for advertisers to target an audience based on keywords that even have a whiff of politics—like “minimum wage” or “fossil fuels.” While many of the policy changes are designed as guardrails against disinformation, some have also made political ads less effective, according to Erica Monteith, senior vice president at GMMB, an agency that’s worked with every Democratic president since Bill Clinton. “They definitely over the years have taken away our ability to target political ads,” she says, “chipping away” at Facebook’s usefulness for campaigns.

Read an article you think we would be interested in? Send it to Tiffany Donnelly at [email protected]. For email filters, the subject of this email will always begin with "Institute for Free Speech Media Update."

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