‘It’s wrong for politicians to promise to punish companies for their speech.’ TechDirt’s Mike Masnick condemns government officials pressuring Disney and others over stances on issues like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
■ Popular Information flags “political blackmail” by Republicans threatening to oppose extension of Disney’s copyright on Mickey Mouse.
Musk’s about-face. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has reversed plans to join the board of Twitter …
■ … fueling speculation he might lead a hostile takeover attempt …
■ … and raising questions about his mandatory background check.
■ But he remains the company’s largest shareholder, a development that prompted New York’s Scott Galloway (in an April 8 post) to fear that “Twitter could digress into the cesspool of far-right, Daily Caller–like people talking about the First Amendment and spreading hate speech.”
■ Twitter’s CEO: “There will be distractions ahead.”
Badgered. Plans for a controversial survey asking University of Wisconsin students questions about their freedom of speech are off—for now.
■ The survey’s been delayed until at least fall …
■ Read the survey questions here.
■ Tallahassee Democrat columnist Bill Cotterell: “If taxpayers are going to spend billions on higher education, what’s wrong with asking its consumers … to frankly discuss what they’re learning?”
‘The Legislature veers uncomfortably close to trying to invalidate ideas.’ But Free Speech Center Director Ken Paulson is reassured that a bill passed by Tennessee lawmakers nevertheless “reaffirms the inviolability of academic freedom and free speech.”
■ Georgia lawmakers have advanced legislation that would ban “free speech zones” on public campuses—ostensibly clearing all campus locations for First Amendment-protected activity …
■ … although some Democrats warn the bill could make it tougher for students to convene counterprotests.
■ University of Houston students are going to court over an anti-discrimination policy that they say infringes on their right to express their views on issues including gender because those views will be treated as forms of discrimination or harassment.
■ Satire from The Onion: “Students Explain How College Has Censored Them.”
‘Truth is an absolute defense in libel cases, but the statements in question were patently untrue.’ Ex-USA Today editorial page editor Bill Sternberg ponders the prospect that Fox News’ post-2020 election coverage “will … cost the media empire (and its insurers) millions, if not billions, of dollars in legal judgments.”
■ After a judge ruled his actions in the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, were unprotected by the First Amendment, a leader of the Proud Boys movement pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct Congress and to the assault of police officers.
■ Over the objections of the University of Virginia’s student newspaper, ex-Vice President Mike Pence was set to appear on campus Tuesday night, delivering a speech titled “How to Save America from the Woke Left.”
‘She’s a snowflake and a sociopath … a snociopath.” After U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene claimed to have reported Jimmy Kimmel to police for making a joke about her, he joked about her some more.
■ UCLA law prof Eugene Volokh: “Kimmel’s line is … not a true threat.”
■ The Atlantic’s David French: “The American right has lost the plot on free speech.”
■ Steven Chung at Above the Law: “People should be free to express an unpopular opinion without having to worry about being ‘moderated’ or cancelled. Because once in a while, the popular ideas are stupid.”
‘Pig,’ ‘punk ass,’ ‘bitch.’ Volokh again: Calling a police officer those things in a Facebook comment is not obscene, according to a federal district court in Colorado.
■ A win for the American Civil Liberties Union: “You have the right to record law enforcement officers—including at the border.”
■ The ACLU’s pressing two of Iowa’s Quad Cities, Davenport and Bettendorf, to repeal ordinances restricting how people panhandle.
‘Are Columbus statues a free speech issue?’ Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg on the continuing battle over whether the city’s controversial—and, for now, removed—monuments should be restored: “Columbus supporters pretend they have a right to demand that the city keep the statues and therefore speak a certain way. But they don’t.”
■ A city committee on monuments recommends the Columbus statues be mothballed permanently.