Events

Free Speech Project Events

Section 230's Fate Under the Biden Administration

What will the new year and the new administration mean for this key legal underpinning of the internet and the regulation of our speech on the virtual public square? With the fate of Section 230 hanging in the balance, and numerous proposed reforms swirling about, join Future Tense, the Duke Center on Science & Technology Policy, the Yale Information Society Project, and the Tech, Law & Society Program at American University Washington College of Law to consider what happens next. Read more

Do We Need a First Amendment 2.0?

What structures and limits are needed to allow our “free speech” ideals to flourish? And what is the role and relevance today of the First Amendment, given that our speech rights are almost exclusively curated not by government officials, but by private platforms continuously exhorted to ban bad speech and bad speakers? Read more

So Long Internet, Hello Internets

Join Future Tense and New America's Open Technology Institute to consider the splintering of the internet over time, and how it might be affected by recent developments. Read more

Unpacking the WeChat/TikTok Bans

Join Future Tense's Free Speech Project (our collaboration with the Tech, Law & Security program at American University's Washington College of Law) to consider whether the administration's move against these platforms was an undue intrusion on free speech or a legitimate action on national security grounds, as well as its broader implications for the U.S-China relationship. Read more

What’s a Gatekeeper to Do?

Are platforms going too far in limiting speech or are they simply protecting against deceptive messaging and the outsized influence of well-heeled interest groups in the wake of Citizens United? Read more

Should We Think Twice Before Limiting Political Advocacy?

Are platforms going too far in limiting speech or are they simply protecting against deceptive messaging and the outsized influence of well-heeled interest groups in the wake of Citizens United? Read more

Symptoms May Include Censorship

Join Future Tense for a conversation with Steve Coll and Andres Martinez to assess the pandemic's side effects when it comes to free speech around the world. Read more

TV’s Lessons for Political Ads Online

What should be done to address unique features of online advertising, like the ability to microtarget ads to discrete sets of users? How do we even define what counts as a “political” ad? Read more

Play

Facing COVID-19 Misinformation and Censorship in Brazil, Russia, and China

A round-table discussion about how three very different countries are addressing—or not—the spread of rumors and disinformation. Read more

The New York Times Is Great, But Who'll Cover Your Community?

Join three media experts to consider the future of the news business and possible remedies to the threat of what could prove a devastating news and information draught in coming years. Read more

Confronting Viral Disinformation

Hear from two legal experts and Facebook's head of security on the head-on efforts to address misinformation about the pandemic, and whether these efforts might alter how users, the platforms themselves, and society think about online free speech. Read more

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Redefining Free Speech for the Digital Age

Future Tense and the Tech, Law & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law launches a collaborative year-long Free Speech Project, an open-minded and far-reaching inquiry into the current state, and future prospects, of free speech. Read more

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