Category Archives: cheap speech

Friday Facebook Fail: “Meta quieter on election misinformation as midterms loom”

August 5, 2022, 10:21 amcheap speech, election subversion riskRick Hasen

AP: Facebook owner Meta is quietly curtailing some of the safeguards designed to thwart voting misinformation or foreign interference in U.S. elections as the November midterm vote approaches.It’s a sharp departure from the social media giant’s multibillion-dollar efforts to… Continue reading

“How a former leftie fell into the pro-Trump conspiracy rabbit hole”

July 23, 2022, 9:27 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Reuters: Before Harry Anzbock started threatening to kill election workers, he did his own research.The Vermont barn restorer went online after the 2020 presidential vote and watched a stream of videos. He saw plenty of evidence of voter fraud,… Continue reading

Bannon’s Precinct Strategy

July 17, 2022, 6:38 amcheap speech, election administration, election subversion riskDan Tokaji

For your weekend reading or listening (I won’t say pleasure): Vox’s Sean Illing has this interview with Jennifer Senior, who recently wrote an in-depth feature on Steve Bannon for the Atlantic. Here’s an especially interesting excerpt from the interview with… Continue reading

“The European Commission’s disinformation fail”

July 13, 2022, 5:50 amcheap speechDan Tokaji

L. Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of WSJ and now co-CEO of NewsGuard, in Politico.eu on the EC’s recently adopted anti-disinformation code: The Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation, which was announced in June, continues to inoculate platforms from the… Continue reading

“The Fight Over Truth Also Has a Red State-Blue State Divide”

July 10, 2022, 7:31 amcheap speech, fraudulent fraud squadDan Tokaji

NYT: In the absence of significant action on disinformation at the federal level, officials in state after state are taking aim at the sources of disinformation and the platforms that propagate them — only they are doing so… Continue reading

“As Midterms Loom, Elections Are No Longer Top Priority for Meta C.E.O.”

June 23, 2022, 10:53 amcheap speechRick Hasen

NYT: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, made securing the 2020 U.S. election a top priority. He met regularly with an election team, which included more than 300 people from across his company, to prevent misinformation from spreading on the social… Continue reading

House Committee Administration Hearing Today: “A Growing Threat: How Disinformation Damages American Democracy”

June 22, 2022, 6:54 amcheap speechRick Hasen

This looks important.

“US is worried about Russia using new efforts to exploit divisions in 2022 midterms”

June 20, 2022, 1:16 pmcheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

CNN: Homeland and national security officials are worried about how Russia could significantly exploit US divisions over the November midterms, considering scenarios like Russia staging smaller hacks of local election authorities — done with the deliberate purpose of being… Continue reading

Walter Horn Reviews My “Cheap Speech” Book for 3:16

June 20, 2022, 7:09 amcheap speechRick Hasen

You can read the review here.

My Cheap Speech Book Included in NY Times Roundup of the Four Best Books to Read on Disinformation: “Misdirection, Fake News and Lies: The Best Books to Read on Disinformation”

June 9, 2022, 10:22 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Richard Stengel for the NY Times: The rise in disinformation aided by automatic bots, false personas and troll farms is leading some thinkers to conclude that the marketplace of ideas — the foundation of modern First Amendment law… Continue reading