, Columnist
How Government Should Regulate Social Media Lies
The First Amendment leaves enough room to deter and punish dangerous falsehoods.
We don’t have to take it anymore.
Source: AFP via Getty Images
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“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic.”
—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Schenck v. U.S., 1919
A lot of people are falsely shouting fire these days, and causing panics. Should they be punished? What about the platforms that host them?