Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of our Democracy

by Bollinger, Lee C.; Stone, Geoffrey R.

• ISBN13: 9780197621097
• ISBN10: 0197621090
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2022-08-05
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

A broad explanation of the various dimensions of the problem of "bad" speech on the internet within the American context.

One of the most fiercely debated issues of this era is what to do about "bad" speech-hate speech, disinformation and propaganda campaigns, and incitement of violence-on the internet, and in particular speech on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. In Social Media, Freedom of Speech, and the Future of our Democracy, Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone have gathered an eminent cast of contributors--including Hillary Clinton, Amy Klobuchar, Sheldon Whitehouse, Newt Minow, Cass Sunstein, Jack Balkin, Emily Bazelon, and others--to explore the various dimensions of this problem in the American context. They stress how difficult it is to develop remedies given that some of these forms of "bad" speech are ordinarily protected by the First Amendment. Bollinger and Stone argue that it is important to remember that the last time we encountered major new communications technology-television and radio-we established a federal agency to provide oversight and to issue regulations to protect and promote "the public interest." Featuring a variety of perspectives from some of America's leading experts on this hotly contested issue, this volume offers new insights for the future of free speech in the social media era.

Author Biography

Lee C. Bollinger became Columbia University's 19th president in 2002 and is the longest serving Ivy League president. He is Columbia's first Seth Low Professor of the University, a member of the Law School faculty, and one of the country's foremost First Amendment scholars. Each fall semester, he
teaches "Freedom of Speech and Press" to Columbia undergraduate students. His latest book, The Free Speech Century, co-edited with Geoffrey R. Stone, was published in the fall of 2018 by Oxford University Press.

Geoffrey R. Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. Mr. Stone earned his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School in 1971, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of The University of Chicago Law Review. After serving as a law clerk to Justice
William J. Brennan, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Mr. Stone joined the faculty of The University of Chicago Law School in 1973. Mr. Stone has served as Dean of The University of Chicago Law School (1987-1994) and Provost of The University of Chicago (1994-2002). Mr. Stone is the
author or co-author of many books on constitutional law. Among them are Democracy and Equality: The Enduring Constitutional Vision of the Warren Court (2020), The Free Speech Century (2018) co-authored with Columbia University President Lee Bollinger; Sex and the Constitution (2017); Top Secret:
When Government Keeps Us In the Dark (2007); and Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime (2004), which received eight national book awards. Mr. Stone is the co-editor of one of the nation's leading constitutional law casebooks, chief editor of a twenty-volume series, Inalienable Rights, which is
published by the Oxford University Press, and an editor of the Supreme Court Review.

Table of Contents

TK
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Opening Statement Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone
Regulating Harmful Speech on Social Media: the Current Legal Landscape and Policy Proposals Andrew J. Ceresney, Jeffrey P. Cunard, Courtney M. Dankworth, and David A. OâNeil
Part One An Overview of the Problem
1 Social Media and First Amendment Fault Lines David A. Strauss.
2 A Deliberate Leap in the Opposite Direction: The Need to Rethink Free Speech Larry Kramer.
3 The Disinformation Dilemma Emily Bazelon.
4 A Framework for Regulating Falsehoods Cass R. Sunstein.
Part Two Reforming Section 230
5 The Free Speech Industry Mary Anne Franks.
6 The Golden Era of Free Speech Erwin Chemerinsky and Alex Chemerinsky.
7 Section 230 Reforms Sheldon Whitehouse.
Part Three Content Moderation and the Problem of Algorithms
8 Algorithms, Affordances, and Agency Renee DiResta.
9 The Siren Call of Content Moderation Formalism Evelyn Douek.
10 Free Speech on Public Platforms Jamal Greene.
11 The Limits of Antidiscrimination Law in the Digital Public Sphere Genevieve Lakier.
12 Platform Power, Online Speech, and the Search for New Constitutional Categories Nathaniel Persily.
13 Strategy and Structure: Understanding Online Disinformation and How Commitments to âFree Speechâ Complicate Mitigation Approaches Kate Starbird.
Part Four Other Possible Reforms
14 To Reform Social Media, Reform Informational Capitalism Jack M. Balkin.
15 Follow the Money, Back to Front Yochai Benkler.
16 The First Amendment Does Not Protect Replicants Lawrence Lessig.
17 Social Media, Distrust, and Regulation: A Conversation Newton N. Minow, Nell Minow, Martha Minow, and Mary Minow.
18 Profit Over People: How to Make Big Tech Work for Americans Amy Klobuchar.
Report of the Commission Katherine Adams, Martin Baron, Lee C. Bollinger, Hillary Clinton, Jelani Cobb, Russ Feingold, Christina Paxson, Geoffrey R. Stone
Concluding Statement Lee C. Bollinger and Geoffrey R. Stone
Notes
Index