Free Speech

A societal phenomenon of the Covid era is that nobody wants to talk about it, despite “educational losses, ruined businesses, rampant mental illness, medical injury, homelessness, job upheaval and loss, depleted arts, wrecked families and communities, inflation, ruined national accounts, a generation of students traumatized, bitter political divisions, and a widespread lack of hope in the future.” 

It was not until 1969, in a case called Brandenburg v. Ohio, that the Supreme Court gave us the modern definition of the freedom of speech. It unanimously held that all innocuous speech is absolutely protected, and all speech is innocuous when there is time for more speech to rebut it.

A powerful United Nations agency has unveiled a plan to regulate social media and online communication while cracking down on what it describes as “false information” and “conspiracy theories,” sparking alarm among free-speech advocates and top U.S. lawmakers.