July 29, 2021
Section 230 is as important — and as widely misunderstood — as ever. TechFreedom’s Free Speech Counsel, Ari Cohn, joins the show to discuss the latest lawsuits, legal theories, and legislative bills swirling around the great charter of free speech on the Internet.
Update: Ari and Corbin fret, on the show, about the Second Circuit’s grant of rehearing in Domen v. Vimeo — a case in which the panel straightforwardly applied Section 230(c)(2). It turns out that the court granted only panel rehearing (not en banc rehearing), and that it did so simply to issue a slightly amended opinion. Phew! Better yet, the amended opinion cites an article written by Berin, our president, and Ashkhen, a former host of this podcast. For a discussion of that article, Section 230: An Introduction for Antitrust & Consumer Protection Practitioners, check out Episode #280.
July 14, 2021
Both the Democrats and the Republicans are introducing antitrust legislation targeted at tech companies. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, senior editor at Reason, joins the show to discuss some of the recent bills, as well as how each party is trying to use antitrust law to further political ends unrelated to antitrust. For more, see Elizabeth’s cover story for this month’s Reason magazine: “The Bipartisan Antitrust Crusade Against Big Tech.”
July 7, 2021
Are social media websites more like newspapers (with strong free speech rights) or common carriers (with weaker free speech rights)? Enjoining enforcement of Florida’s Internet speech law, SB 7072, a federal judge recently wrote that they’re somewhere “in the middle.” Eugene Volokh, of UCLA School of Law, and Berin Szóka, president of TechFreedom, join the show to debate whether that’s right.
For more on Eugene’s position (i.e., some aspects of social media can properly be analogized to common carriage), see Eugene’s recent post, “Social Media Platforms as Common Carriers?,” at The Volokh Conspiracy. For more on Berin’s position (i.e., social media is nothing like common carriage), check out the amicus brief TechFreedom submitted in the Florida litigation.
