Do You Have a Right to be Wrong?

 

     What to do about disinformation spread on social media and other platforms is a pertinent issue as of late. Elected leaders, government officials, academics, journalist, big tech, and everyday media consumers alike all seem to be searching for possible solutions. One of the journalist at the forefront of this discussion, Kevin Roose, wrote an article for The New York Times addressing what the Biden administration and others like big tech could do to help pull media consumers away from disinformation, hoaxes, and harmful conspiracy theories. After speaking with several experts on these topics, Roose reports several possible solutions that these experts believe may help alleviate the issue with “information ecosystem” in the United States. Some of the most interesting suggestions include Harvard research director for the university’s Shorestein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Survey, Joan Donavan’s suggestion to set up a “truth commission” which would “investigate the planning and execution of the Capitol siege on Jan. 6.” Donavan also suggested creating more specific labels for different types of extremist movements in order to better differentiate between higher and lower risk individuals and communities online. Another suggestion offered to Roose was the Biden administration creating something similar to a Director of National Intelligence but for online platforms. This new positional would be dubbed a “reality czar” and would essentially act as central point in the government from which disinformation, conspiracy theories, extremist groups, and their adherents could be monitored. As Roose reports, the reality czar and their task force “could also meet regularly with tech platforms, and push for structural changes that could help those companies tackle their own extremism and misinformation problems. (For example, it could formulate “safe harbor” exemptions that would allow platforms to share data about QAnon and other conspiracy theory communities with researchers and government agencies without running afoul of privacy laws.)” Lastly, Roose reports the suggestion that the Biden administration should force big tech to allow the government to examine their algorithms and possibly create repercussions for ones that promote extreme content. Despite the rather Orwellian sounding nature of these proposals, they are not unreasonable things to suggest given that Roose and these experts seem to already accept the fundamental notion that disinformation, conspiracy theories, and the trafficking thereof is an evil which needs to be addressed through governmental action.

     This brings us back to our headline; do you have a right to be wrong? Is having an opinion that is not supported by evidence now considered to be a moral and even legal problem? Does free speech no longer include speech that is untrue or questionable? The speech that Roose and these experts are considering cracking down upon may be wrong, offensive, misguided, and even deliberately misleading. However, this does not mean that the government should be involved in solving the “problem” that is disinformation online. There are already laws that address things like libel and slander, and there is ample case law which address the freedoms of speech, expression, and assembly. It seems as though, in a likely sincere effort to create a more hospitable and fact-based online discourse and information ecosystem, Roose and others may be taking a step too far. When you are talking about creating a “reality czar” responsible for establishing what is “true,” it may be time to reflect on exactly what that means especially considering that the position of power you create to squelch speech and people who you deem to be problems will undoubtedly be used against you when the pendulum of power in American politics swings back the other way. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which some of the more outlandish suggestions reported and tangentially endorsed by Roose end the way one might hope. The best solution to this problem is not less speech, it is not the government deciding what is truth and fact, it is more, regular people, standing up for what they can best determine to be the truth. It is the responsibility of every American to push back against conspiracy theories, disinformation, and lies. In order to ensure that this can continue to happen however, we have to accept the idea that people have a right to be wrong, just like they have a right to speak the truth.

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