These cases have asked the justices to consider how to apply some of the most sweeping constitutional protections – those of free speech – to an extremely complex online communication environment.
Citizens have sometimes been surprised to find public officials blocking people from viewing their social media feeds.
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‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.’ It’s often misunderstood, by many Americans. A constitutional scholar explains what it really boils down to.
The Mahanoy v. B.L. ruling did not give schools or free-speech advocates the clear lines they may have wanted, but it did attempt to address some of the complexity of modern-day speech.
The arbitrary distinction between online and offline means much hate speech and abuse goes unnoticed until it’s too late.
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Online abuse is often dismissed as “just online.” But the rise of QAnon and similar groups demonstrates the very real consequences of online speech.
Can online posts help scholars – or police – tell the difference between people who are just ranting and those who plan real violence?
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Begun as part of efforts to preserve online anonymity and privacy, Freenet, Tor and the Invisible Internet Project are, like the rest of the web, home to both crime and free expression.
Funeral services took place for Benjamin Andrew Wheeler, one of the students killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, while a hearse with another shooting victim drives by.
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Family members of Sandy Hook victims sued media personality Alex Jones over his claims that the killings were a hoax they participated in. Current law makes their lawsuit unnecessarily hard to prove.
Online hate isn’t always as easy to spot as it might appear.
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Two websites, one taken offline, the other still active, raise hard questions about how prepared Americans are to deal with free speech about white supremacy, in both monuments and domain names.