Is Canadian Law Better Equipped to Handle Disinformation?
The Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa. (Joanne Clifford, https://tinyurl.com/y2xaoraf; CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)
On Oct. 13, before President Trump—with only falsehoods as ammunition—began live-tweeting his attempt to overturn an election he lost, Emily Bazelon published an article in the New York Times Magazine entitled, “Free Speech Will Save Our Democracy: The First Amendment in the Age of Disinformation.” In this piece, Bazelon presents—and questions—the American free speech jurisprudence, according to which false statements and hurtful speech on public issues are presumptively protected by the First Amendment because “the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas.” She wonders if the time has come for Americans to revisit the way they envision free speech.