These people don’t just tell lies; they tell whoppers.
The latest is Democrat Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who tweeted “Free speech does not include spreading misinformation to downplay political violence.”
Free speech does not include spreading misinformation to downplay political violence.
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) November 1, 2022
Ah, where to begin?
Let’s start with saying the First Amendment does not, in general, outlaw spreading of misinformation. We’ll come back to that in a moment.
Secondly, Durbin talks of downplaying political violence. That’s a reference to a comment made by new Twitter owner Elon Musk about the recent brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“In the days since Musk took Twitter private, the platform has seen an uptick in hate speech, and Musk himself used the platform and his influence to spread a baseless conspiracy theory about a violent attack on an elected official’s business,” Durbin tweeted.
In the days since Musk took Twitter private, the platform has seen an uptick in hate speech, and Musk himself used the platform and his influence to spread a baseless conspiracy theory about a violent attack on an elected official’s family member.
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) November 1, 2022
In a tweet, Musk shared a link pushing unsubstantiated theories about the attack on Pelosi. Following heavy criticism, he removed the tweet.
The only hate speech surrounding the attack of which I am aware are claims by Democrats that former President Donald Trump broke into the Pelosi residence and personally attacked Paul Pelosi.
Okay, that’s an exaggeration – misinformation, if you will – but it makes a point about the tone Democrats have adopted in that they are repeating the claim that hate speech by Republicans prompted the attack on Pelosi.
That’s false, of course. But can they legally say that? According to the First Amendment: yes.
Attempting to marshal his case, Durbin provides a link to a Wikipedia site, which he says shows limits to the First Amendment, implying such limits should be imposed on Musk and others.
Of course, reading of the link shows no such thing. Yes, it says there are limits to free speech which “include obscenity, fraud, child pornography, speech integral to illegal conduct, speech that incites imminent lawless action, speech that violates intellectual property law, true threats, and commercial speech such as advertising.
“Defamation that causes harm to reputation is a tort and also an exception to free speech,” the Wikipedia entry says.
And there are civil and criminal liabilities in certain “false statements of fact,” which mainly have to do with libel and slander and negligence.
Tellingly, “lies about the government” are for the most part completely protected by the First Amendment, Wikipedia says. And the courts give wide berth to false statements about public figures.
Durbin’s dubious claims about First Amendment limitations launched a tirade of criticism.
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