Lies and Counterspeech
Piotr Szyhalski

Lies and Counterspeech

To what extent can speech—disclosures, warning labels, fact checks, apologies, and/or counterspeech generally—defang the lie?

Online

In his plurality opinion in United States v. Alvarez, Justice Anthony Kennedy claimed that, “in a free society [the proper] remedy for speech that is false is speech that is true.” The idea that the best remedy for bad speech is more speech underpins a great deal of First Amendment law. But when it comes to lies and deception, is it true? To what extent can speech—disclosures, warning labels, fact checks, apologies, and/or counterspeech generally—defang the lie? And to what extent may the government constitutionally require private speakers to engage in this kind of counterspeech under contemporary precedents? Is counterspeech a realistic solution to the problem of mass public deception today? These are the questions that this roundtable will address.

Lies and the Law

Related Lies and the Law blogs

“Truth Drives Out Lies” and Other Misinformation
David Pozen

Of Noisy Songs and Mighty Rivers
Yochai Benkler

Freedom From the Marketplace of Speech
Amy Kapczynski

 

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Schedule

  • Online

    Featuring 

    David Pozen, Columbia Law

    Amy Kapczynski, Yale Law

    Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law

    Moderated by 

    Genevieve Lakier, Knight First Amendment Institute

Speakers

  • Yochai Benkler

    Yochai Benkler

    Harvard Law School; Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

  • Amy Kapczynski

    Amy Kapczynski

    Knight Institute Senior Visiting Research Scholar, 2019-2020; Yale Law School

  • Genevieve Lakier

    Genevieve Lakier

    Knight Institute Senior Visiting Research Scholar 2021-2022; University of Chicago Law School

  • David Pozen

    David Pozen

    Knight Institute Senior Visiting Research Scholar 2017-2018; Columbia Law School