‘UnHerd’ of levels of deplatforming, Taiwan models how to combat misinfo without censorship & more!
Bringing you the latest free speech news (4/7/2024)
Stories of the week
Campus censorship set for a record-breaking 2024 (UnHerd) by me
In fact, 2023 was the worst year ever for campus deplatforming attempts — and 2024 is already on track to blow it out of the water. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has already recorded 45 deplatforming attempts as of 15 March, a pace of around 200 for the year, but I suspect that it will be even higher as shout-downs have become such a popular tactic among activists. Free speech on campus has been threatened for a long time, it’s not getting better, and anyone who can’t see that is being wilfully blind.
J.K. Rowling is Right to Protest Hate Speech Laws (WSJ-paywalled) by FIRE Senior Fellow Jacob Mchangama
Critics have lambasted the act for being overly vague and likely to instill a climate of fear and self-censorship. The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents predicted a huge increase in complaints, including people seeking to “score points” against opponents. This has already been the case, as Scottish police received around 3,800 complaints within 48 hours of the law’s enactment.
This week in ERI
International free speech story of the week
How to Fight Misinformation Without Censorship: Taiwan’s approach puts other countries to shame (Persuasion) by FIRE Senior Fellow Jacob Mchangama
Taiwan is an instructive example of a young and vibrant democracy that views freedom of expression as a competitive advantage against authoritarian censorship and propaganda. In large part, Taiwan’s response to China’s aggressive disinformation campaigns has relied on a model where organic and civil society-led initiatives serve as first responders and heavy-handed government intervention is treated with great skepticism. Taiwan’s success provides a proof of concept that should prompt a change of course in European democracies, which increasingly believe that preserving their open societies requires sacrificing free expression.
This week in FIRE’s blog
FIRE urges Arizona governor to veto unconstitutional age verification legislation by Sofia Lopez
FIRE opposes House bill empowering the president to ban TikTok
POLL: Americans overwhelmingly oppose efforts to roll back campus due process rights
‘Canceling of the American Mind’ in the news
Check out my recent appearance on David Bernstein’s “The Contrarian” podcast
London Calling: Ronnie’s First Amendment Rundown
In the Georgia v. Trump election interference case, the court rejected efforts to have the charges dismissed on constitutional grounds. It read the indictment as charging knowing and willful false statements to public officers and filing of documents containing false statements and misrepresentations, and held that, viewing it most favorably to the State, exceptions to the First Amendment apply to the charged conduct. Those included the exceptions for statements in furtherance of criminal activity and that for false statements knowingly and willfully made within a government agency’s jurisdiction that threaten to deceive and harm the government (i.e., fraud).
App of the month
‘Marvel Unlimited’ lets you turn your phone or tablet into an endless comic book machine, thereby fulfilling my wildest comic book dreams. I’m utterly reliant on it! 10/10, can’t recommend highly enough! (Apple, Google)
Sorry, but I take issue with the last part of your post. I think too much “Marvel” type fantasy helps enable attacks on free speech and truth, such as censorship, in that both lead to a denial, or avoidance, of reality. To me the worst part of censorship is the denial of truth, which is in effect lying. Some Marvel is good, too much not.
I continue to believe that what matters is the number of successful de-platforming attempts, not the number of attempts. Attempts lags success by a few years, if the success rate drops then so too will the number of attempts.