Slander

One of the unexpected outcomes of Musk's takeover of Twitter was the extent of how free speech was threatened. It was not just the company's attempt to determine what was true and what was misinformation but Homeland Security working through the FBI and CIA were encouraging Twitter to ban information on things like Covid that the government deemed misinformation. Private industry can censor if they choose but the government is not allowed to censor. The government thus was circumventing the law by going through social media. The danger was quickly seen when Twitter was told not to allow information about Hunter Biden's laptop. Many people believe that this effected the outcome of the election but there is no proof. What is new in all of this are words like misinformation and disinformation. The government attempted to ban certain information calling it mis or dis. Many see this as an attack on free speech. The first amendment does not prohibit lying. In 2012 the Supreme Court held for the first time that lies (verifiable factual falsehoods) were protected speech under the First Amendment, United States v. Alvarez. A reasonable solution is to allow all speech that is legal, that is not subject to defamation and slander laws.