Lawfare Archive: Jeff Kosseff on Why the First Amendment Protects False Speech
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 15 March 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
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Summary
From October 6, 2023: The First Amendment protects speech, but what kind? True speech, sure. But what about false or misleading speech? What if it's harmful? After all, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater—or can you?
To answer these questions, Alan Rozenshtein, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and Senior Editor at Lawfare spoke with Jeff Kosseff, who is an Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Law in the United States Naval Academy’s Cyber Science Department and a Contributing Editor at Lawfare. Jeff is releasing his latest book this month, titled "Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation," in which he describes, and defends, the First Amendment's robust protections for false and misleading speech.
They spoke about the book, why you sometimes can yell fire in a crowded theater, and how new technology both superchargers misinformation and provides new tools to fight it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
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| 0:11.5 | patreon.com slash lawfare. That's patreon.com slash lawfare. |
| 0:18.2 | Also, check out Lawfare's other podcast offerings, Rational Security, Chatter, |
| 0:25.2 | Lawfare No Bull, and The Aftermath. |
| 0:32.6 | Here comes Steve, with the satisfied smile of a man who's checking out at midday after a great night's sleep and a delicious unlimited brecky. |
| 0:42.3 | See the untameable bedhead here. |
| 0:44.3 | And if you look really close, you can see that properly well-rested glow, which can only mean one thing. |
| 0:51.3 | Last night he slept at Premier Inn. Get better sleep for your money. Premier |
| 0:56.7 | in. Rest easy. Breakfast subject to availability. T's and C's apply. |
| 1:01.7 | I I'm Caroline Cornett, intern at Lawfare, with an episode from the Lawfare |
| 1:18.6 | for March 15th, 2025. |
| 1:22.3 | On President Trump's first day in office, he issued an executive order purporting to, quote, restore freedom of speech, |
| 1:29.6 | alleging that the prior administration had infringed on constitutional rights under the guise of combating |
| 1:35.6 | misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation. And just this week, Meta announced it would |
| 1:41.6 | begin testing its new community fact checking system |
| 1:45.1 | using the same algorithm as Elon Musk's X, which critics claim will increase misinformation |
| 1:51.0 | on the platform. |
| 1:52.5 | For today's archive episode, I selected an episode from October 6, 2023, in which Alan Rosenstein |
| 2:00.0 | sat down with Jeff Kossif to discuss his book Liar in a Crowded Theater, |
| 2:04.6 | Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation, in which he describes and defends the First Amendment's robust protections for false and misleading speech. |
| 2:13.6 | They spoke about the book, how new technology both supercharges misinformation, |
... |
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