I’m thrilled to announce that my book, Cheap Speech: How Disinformation Poisons Our Politics–and How to Cure It, will be published one month from today, on March 8, by Yale University Press. They say preorders help a lot to generate support for the book, so if you are interested here is Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. (There is also an Audible audio book and a Kindle version of the book coming.) I’ll also be doing a mostly virtual book tour, in conversation with some fascinating people (details below). These are issues urgent to the future of American democracy, and I’m thrilled that this book will give me a platform to discuss them.

Here’s the description of the book:

What can be done consistent with the First Amendment to ensure that American voters can make informed election decisions and hold free elections amid a flood of virally spread disinformation and the collapse of local news reporting? How should American society counter the actions of people like former President Donald J. Trump, who used social media to convince millions of his followers to doubt the integrity of U.S. elections and helped foment a violent insurrection? What can we do to minimize disinformation campaigns aimed at suppressing voter turnout?
 
With piercing insight into the current debates over free speech, censorship, and Big Tech’s responsibilities, Richard L. Hasen proposes legal and social measures to restore Americans’ access to reliable information on which democracy depends. In an era when quack COVID treatments and bizarre QAnon theories have entered mainstream, this book explains how to assure both freedom of ideas and a commitment to truth.

I have set up this website for the book, CheapSpeechBook.com, where you will find ordering information, book tour information, reviews when they become available, and podcasts and other interviews with me about the book when they become available. Here is the book tour information in progress:

Note: All events are virtual unless otherwise noted. Click on the link to register for each event.

This list will be updated with additional details as they become available.

March 8, 12 pm PT, Stanford Law School, Stanford CA (in conversation with Nate Persily)

March 10, 4 pm PT, National Constitution Center, Philadelphia, PA (in conversation with Jeffrey Rosen and others)

March 11, 9 am PT, Campaign Legal Center, Washington, DC (in conversation with Trevor Potter)

March 15, 5 pm PT, UC Irvine School of Law, Irvine, CA (in conversation with Henry Weinstein) (details TBA)

March 23, 5 pm PT, America at the Crossroads (online event, in conversation with Warren Olney)

March 24, 3 pm PT, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, New York, NY

March 29, 3 pm PT, Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA

April 23 or 24, time TBA (live event), Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Los Angeles, CA