
Free Speech & Social Media
Safeguarding the vitality and integrity of public discourse online
Conversations that once took place in parks, sidewalks, and public squares now take place largely online, and often on privately owned social media platforms. As a society, we are just beginning to grapple with the question of how the First Amendment and free speech principles should apply in these digital spaces.
Our work seeks to illuminate the forces that are shaping public discourse online, and to ensure the inclusivity and integrity of digital spaces that are increasingly important to our democracy.
Featured
LATEST NEWS & ANALYSIS
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Press Statement
Farmers and Advocates Seek Preliminary Injunction Requiring USDA to Restore Purged Climate Webpages
Farmers have been stripped of vital digital resources due to the Trump Administration’s climate webpage purge, motion seeks to restore access and prevent additional webpage removals
LITIGATION & ADVOCACY
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Lawsuit
American Association of University Professors v. Rubio
A case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation.
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Amicus Brief
The Associated Press v. Budowich
A case challenging The Associated Press’ exclusion from the White House press pool.
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Amicus Brief
X Corp. v. Media Matters
An appeal addressing X Corp.’s effort to compel a research organization to disclose its donors.
RESEARCH
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Essays and Scholarship
The Long Online Shadow of the Material Support Law
How the Supreme Court's ruling on a law meant to curb support to foreign terrorist groups has impacted our own domestic political discourse
By Evelyn Douek -
Essays and Scholarship
Into the Driver’s Seat With Social Media Content Feeds
Using vehicles as an analogy, a proposed classification framework for algorithmic feeds
By Laura Edelson , Frances Haugen & Damon McCoy -
Deep Dive : Jawboning
A Small Step Towards Ending Jawboning and a Big Need for Disclosure
An analysis of the Supreme Court's Murthy v. Missouri decision
By Will Duffield
Events
Columbia University
Optimizing for What? Algorithmic Amplification and Society
A two-day symposium exploring algorithmic amplification and distortion as well as potential interventions
Columbia University and online
Lies, Free Speech, and the Law
A symposium exploring how the law regulates or should regulate false and misleading speech
Italian Academy Teatro, Columbia University, and online
Lies and Democracy
Political lies, American democracy, and the “Big Lie”