Category Archives: cheap speech

“Facebook’s race-blind practices around hate speech came at the expense of Black users, new documents show”

November 22, 2021, 6:42 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WaPo: Last year, researchers at Facebook showed executives an example of the kind of hate speech circulating on the social network: an actual post featuring an image of four female Democratic lawmakers known collectively as “The Squad.”The poster, whose… Continue reading

The Consequences of Disinformation–An International Perspective

November 20, 2021, 12:06 pm19th Amendment, cheap speechTabatha Abu El-Haj

A new article by Karen Hao in the Technology Review explores “how Facebook and Google fund global misinformation.” It argues that “the tech giants are paying millions of dollars to the operators of clickbait pages,” thereby “bankrolling the deterioration of… Continue reading

“Political Campaigns Can Still Target You on Facebook”

November 15, 2021, 6:00 pmcampaigns, cheap speechTabatha Abu El-Haj

From Nick Coransaniti at the NY Times “On Tuesday, Meta, the social media company formerly known as Facebook, announced changes that, on the surface, would appear to reduce such targeting. But it remains entirely possible for campaigns to get around… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video: Disinformation in American Elections: Pt. 3 (Social Scientists) with Joan Donovan, Renee DiResta, and Brendan Nyhan (Moderated by Pam Fessler)

November 14, 2021, 3:53 pmcheap speechRick Hasen

You can watch archived video of this event at UCI Law’s Fair Election and Free Speech Center at this link:

“Smartmatic Sues Newsmax and One America News Network, Claiming Defamation”

November 4, 2021, 7:31 amcheap speech, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NYT: The legal battle against disinformation from right-wing media outlets is expanding.Smartmatic, an election technology firm that became a target of pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential race, sued Newsmax and One America News Network on Wednesday for defamation,… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video of My Conversation with Danielle Citron, Spencer Overton, and Nate Persily on Disinformation in U.S. Elections: Legal Perspectives

October 28, 2021, 1:58 pmcheap speechRick Hasen

You can watch the archived video of this Fair Elections and Free Speech Center event at UCI Law at this link:

Coming Up Today: My Conversation with Danielle Citron, Spencer Overton, and Nate Persily on Disinformation in American Elections

October 27, 2021, 7:49 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Tune in for this virtual event from UCI Law’s Fair Elections and Free Speech Center (free registration required).

“Internal Alarm, Public Shrugs: Facebook’s Employees Dissect Its Election Role; Company documents show that the social network’s employees repeatedly raised red flags about the spread of misinformation and conspiracies before and after the contested November vote.”

October 23, 2021, 10:21 amcheap speech, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

NYT: Sixteen months before last November’s presidential election, a researcher at Facebook described an alarming development. She was getting content about the conspiracy theory QAnon within a week of opening an experimental account, she wrote in an internal report.On… Continue reading

“Trump’s New ‘Free Speech’ Network Bars Criticism of Itself”

October 21, 2021, 6:46 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Political Wire: Donald Trump’s new social network — which he launched because he was “silenced” on other social media platforms — includes a terms of service that include a long list of prohibited activities, including that users have… Continue reading

“Facebook Is Rebuked by Oversight Board Over Transparency on Treatment of Prominent Users”

October 21, 2021, 6:44 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WSJ: Facebook Inc.’s oversight board said the company hadn’t been forthcoming about how it exempts high-profile users from its rules and said it is drafting recommendations for how to overhaul the system, following a Wall Street Journal investigation into… Continue reading

UCI Law Virtual Event October 27: “Disinformation in American Elections Part II: Legal Scholars”

October 20, 2021, 7:20 amcheap speechRick Hasen

I’m really looking forward to this virtual event (free registration required): Fair Elections and Free Speech Center | Disinformation in American Elections Part II: Legal Scholars Wednesday, October 27 at 12:15pm to 1:15pm Pacific time Virtual EventCountering the Risk of… Continue reading

“YouTube’s stronger election misinformation policies had a spillover effect on Twitter and Facebook, researchers say.”

October 15, 2021, 8:00 amcheap speechRick Hasen

NYT: YouTube’s stricter policies against election misinformation was followed by sharp drops in the prevalence of false and misleading videos on Facebook and Twitter, according to new research released on Thursday, underscoring the video service’s power across social media.Researchers at… Continue reading

Watch Archived Video of Today’s Knight First Amendment Institute Event: “Lies and Elections: The electoral context and the regulation of lies”

October 13, 2021, 1:03 pmcheap speechRick Hasen

You can now watch video of this event at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia Law, featuring Janell Byrd-Chichester, Atiba Ellis, Matt Perault, and me, moderated by Genevieve Lakier. It was a great conversation!

“Drawing the Line Between False Election Speech and False Campaign Speech”

October 12, 2021, 1:16 pmcheap speechRick Hasen

I have written this blog post for the Knight First Amendment Institute in connection with this event on lies and elections that I’ll be participating in on Wednesday. A snippet: In a book to be released in March 2022, Cheap … Continue reading

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