Things that caught our eye
Tackling a perhaps less addressed aspect of Elonis case, raises the question of social media companies’ role in addressing threats on their platforms. Citron’s new book “Hate Crimes in Cyberspace” analyzes key issues around how law could move forward in handling free speech challenges and distributing responsibility between schools, parents and Silicon Valley. You can read more on the aftermath of Supreme Court’s December 1st hearing on NYT’s Room for Debate.
free speech, Freedom of Expression, online harassment
Things that caught our eye
On December 1st, the US Supreme Court will hear Elonis’ First Amendment challenge to his conviction. Elonis had spent three years in prison after posting death threats to his wife on Facebook. While “true threats” are an exception to the rule against criminalizing speech, Elonis argues his posts do not constitute “true threats” because he did not intend to hurt his wife: the aggressive lyrics he posted had a cathartic function for him. Emily Bazelon, senior research fellow at Yale Law School and well-known writer on the topic of online harassment, discusses what is at stake with this decision in her post on the New York Times Magazine.
