Lies and the Law
Concern over the role that lies and deception of all kinds play in public life in the United States has reached new heights in the last few years, raising important questions about the meaning of freedom of speech. Among those questions is whether one of the foundational assumptions of modern First Amendment law still holds, that the best remedy for harmful speech—including harmfully false or misleading speech—is more speech.
This blog channel highlights the Institute’s examination of those questions and features posts related to our Lies and the Law series of public conversations and essays.
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Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
Drawing the Line Between False Election Speech and False Campaign Speech
Why Congress or states may constitutionally ban the former but not the latter
By Richard L. Hasen -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
Congress Must Act To Establish Sensible Rules on Electoral Speech
Confusion reigns around current laws and regulations in the runup to the 2022 midterm elections
By Matt Perault -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
Race, the Epistemic Crisis of Democracy, and the First Amendment
Countering the “Big Lie” requires a broader conversation that includes acknowledgement of coded racial voter suppression
By Atiba Ellis -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
We Must Fight Lies, Ignorance, and the Bigotry They Produce If We Are To Remain a Democracy
Defeating the use of disinformation means pressing our government for laws that protect democracy and promote the truth, while we practice the same in our public and private lives
By Janell Byrd-Chichester -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
New Research Project Focuses on Lies and the Law
How does (or should) the law shape the regulation of lies, disinformation, and misinformation in the digital age
By Genevieve Lakier & Katy Glenn Bass -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
The Anguish of the Necessary Lie
Quinta Jurecic on the strained relationship between truth and politics
By Quinta Jurecic -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
Is Politics Possible in the Absence of Truth?
Masha Gessen on how polarization around facts pits us against each other
By Masha Gessen -
Deep Dive: Lies and the Law
Is Lying Actually a Good Thing in Politics?
Sophia Rosenfeld explores the value of some looseness in the policing of the boundaries around truth and lies
By Sophia Rosenfeld -
Institute Update: Lies and the Law
Call for Papers: Lies, Free Speech, and the Law
The Knight Institute invites submissions for its spring symposium, “Lies, Free Speech, and the Law” to be held at Columbia Law School, on April 7-8, 2022. The symposium will explore how the law regulates, or should regulate, false and misleading...
By Genevieve Lakier & Katy Glenn Bass
Research
Essays and Scholarship
Licensure as Data Governance
Moving toward an industrial policy for artificial intelligence
Learn MoreResearch
Symposiums and Convenings
Lies and the Law
A series of public conversations exploring what the law can and should do about the problem of lies and deception in the contemporary mass public sphere
Learn MoreResearch
Essays and Scholarship
What We Owe Whistleblowers
Jameel Jaffer argues that their disclosures since 9/11 have been vital, and that we should protect them better than we do
Learn MoreReading Room
Transparency & Democracy
The OLC's Opinions
Documents released in our FOIA lawsuit for OLC legal opinions issued prior to 1994
Learn More