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CEI opposes SEC’s gag rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission does not like to be criticized. That’s not unusual. What is unusual is that the SEC includes a prohibition of…
News Release
SCOTUS Hears Troubling Jawboning Cases Involving Big Tech and Government
Today, the Supreme Court heard argument concerning jawboning – government pressuring private entities like social media companies to suppress politically disfavored speech. CEI expert Wayne…
Reason
Photos Show the Transformation of Great Britain
Not so long ago, Great Britain was deemed “the sick man of Europe.” The 1970s were plagued by inflation, labor union strikes, and a rise…
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Blog
CEI opposes SEC’s gag rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission does not like to be criticized. That’s not unusual. What is unusual is that the SEC includes a prohibition of…
News Release
SCOTUS Hears Troubling Jawboning Cases Involving Big Tech and Government
Today, the Supreme Court heard argument concerning jawboning – government pressuring private entities like social media companies to suppress politically disfavored speech. CEI expert Wayne…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of Uniform Public Expression Protection Act (UPEPA)
The undersigned organizations support strong anti-SLAPP laws protecting free speech and commend Texas for having one of the best in the nation. We are concerned…
Reason
Photos Show the Transformation of Great Britain
Not so long ago, Great Britain was deemed “the sick man of Europe.” The 1970s were plagued by inflation, labor union strikes, and a rise…
National Review
Rise of the Woke Taliban
The ascent of civilizations is a wondrous thing. On the way up, each generation produces treasures of its own, building on the achievements of those…
Washington Examiner
The Supreme Court’s First Amendment ruling could help stop cancel culture
In what could be an important precedent in these days of academic political correctness and cancel culture, the Supreme Court has confirmed that…
Letters
CEI and Other Organizations Urge Governor Cox to Veto Amendments Limiting Online Free Speech
Governor Cox: We write to urge you to veto Senate Bill 228, Electronic Free Speech Amendments. If enacted, this bill faces serious constitutional challenges, threatens…
National Review
Why Are We Even Contemplating Canceling Aristotle?
There is a good piece hidden in philosopher Agnes Callard’s recent article for the New York Times about cancel culture. Unfortunately, that piece is lost in the framing device.
National Review
Socialism and the Corporation: A Love-Hate Relationship
Socialists would rather the traditional American firm did not exist. Animosity towards the capitalist boss for reaping all the rewards of his employees’ labor, or (perhaps…
News Release
Executive Order Compelling Private, Online Platforms to Host Speech is Unconstitutional
President Trump today announced his intention to sign an Executive Order aimed at compelling companies that own private online platforms to host speech against their…
Blog
USMCA Won’t Protect Tech from Trudeau
A point of contention in the debate over the new U.S., Mexico, Canada (USMCA) trade agreement has been whether or not the final deal will…
Forbes
How Regulation of “Harmful Speech” Online Will Do the Real Harm
Much of the debate over online speech concerns whether or not conservatives are “censored” by big tech. But there are bigger fish to fry.
Blog
Government of Singapore Demonstrates Real Online Censorship
Singapore’s recent policing of online content provides an instructive example of the difference between private curating of material by platform owners and dangerous curtailing of…
Blog
Twitter’s Ban on Political Ads Has No First Amendment Implications
Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey announced that the social media platform will ban all political advertising. This comes on the heels of Facebook’s recent announcement…
Blog
Cautiously Optimistic about Facebook’s New Approach to Speech
It seems increasingly the case that there is a lot more to like about what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to say than not. His…
Blog
Where Facebook Interim Report on Bias Falls Short
Today former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), in fulfillment of an arrangement with Facebook, released an independent Interim Report (and accompanying op-ed) cataloging the primary concerns of…
Blog
Leaked White House Executive Order on ‘Censorship’ Violates Two Basic Constitutional Tenets
Earlier this week it was reported that the Trump administration was drafting an executive order to combat perceived “censorship” of conservatives on online platforms such…
News Release
Draft White House Executive Order Aimed at Social Media Companies Would Violate First Amendment
Following yesterday’s Politico report about a draft executive order aimed at social media companies’ policies, CNN obtained a copy of the proposed order on Friday.
Citation
White House Should Refrain from Taking Executive Action against Tech that Violates First Amendment Rights
According to a new Politico report, the White House is considering an executive order to “address allegations of anti-conservative bias by social media companies.”…
Blog
Nipping at Big Tech’s Heels: Competition in Social Media
There has much bemoaning and hand-wringing by members of Congress on the alleged dangers of social media.
Broadcasting Cable
Trump’s Social Media Summit Billed as ‘Bias’ Bashing Exercise
Broadcasting Cable cites Research Fellow Patrick Hedger on social media censorship. The fiscally conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute weighed in with a warning before…
News Release
Empowering Government to Regulate Speech Would Harm Americans’ First Amendment Rights
This afternoon, the White House is convening a group of elected officials, public policy organizations, and private citizens for a “Social Media Summit.” …
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter in Support of Section 230
Dear House and Senate Leadership, The undersigned groups believe that government should not be setting speech codes online or undermining free speech. The…
Blog
More to Like in Zuckerberg’s Aspen Talk Than Not
Yesterday at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touched on some of the most pressing issues facing his company and big tech as…
Blog
State Legislatures Seek to Undermine ‘Janus’ Decision
Labor unions continue to deny the First Amendment rights of public employees despite the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which ruled one…
Blog
Post-‘Janus’, Unions Continue Undermining Public Workers’ First Amendment Rights
It has been nearly one year since the U.S. Supreme Court restored the First Amendment rights of public employees, but many members are still having…
Blog
Corporate Virtue in Eye of Beholder
The main impression I’ve gotten from much recent reporting on the ethical behavior and social responsibility of business is that its value depends greatly on…
Fox Business
Big Tech vs. Free Speech? It’s Not that Simple
After Facebook and other social media companies’ recent moves to ban Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and other extremists some pundits are calling for the end of the safe harbor that…
Citation
Government Regulation of Speech Will Not Protect Conservatives
Yesterday, the White House launched a landing page (http://wh.gov/techbias) claiming social media platforms “should advance freedom of speech” and asking Americans who believe that their…
Blog
Breaking up and Regulating Facebook: Unfair, Un-American, Unacceptable
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, former publisher of The New Republic, argues in a long essay for The New York Times that the company should be…
Blog
Don’t Let Facebook Team up with Big Government to Censor the Web
Facebook’s expulsion of several controversial figures from its platform last week is an example of a company managing its own private property to what it…
Blog
VIDEO: Government Should Not Regulate Social Media Content
Trends in social media have rocketed to the top of the national political agenda recently, whether in the desire of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to…
Blog
Union Membership Post-Janus
It has been difficult to gauge the impact of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME. In this ruling, the Supreme Court held…
Blog
Move Slowly and Establish Rules: Facebook’s Call for Regulation
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s motto used to be “Move fast and break things.” Now that his company is under increased political scrutiny—and facing calls for…
Blog
Chuck Todd’s ‘Daily Show’ Comments Got It Wrong on the Climate Debate
Last night Chuck Todd went on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and was asked about his announcement on a recent episode of “Meet the…
Blog
Don’t Blame Google for a Feature Consumers Want
It’s very rare I disagree with the great freedom-loving journalist John Stossel, but his column at Townhall this week made me raise an eyebrow. In…
Blog
Making a Living with Free Speech
Free speech protections in the United States are pretty far reaching, including protections for commercial free speech and occupational free speech. If you…
Blog
Government for Rent: Exposing Climate Politics in Governors’ Offices
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute has released my colleague Chris Horner’s new study on how special interests have been buying influence in governors’ offices, “…
Blog
Real Sin for Social Media Companies Not ‘Censorship,’ but Getting into Bed with Government
Social media outlets have been filled with commentary this week about the decisions by Apple, Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify to remove content created by…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter To Prevent Further IRS Targeting of Non-Profit Organizations Based on Ideology
On behalf the undersigned individuals and organizations representing millions of concerned taxpayers across America, we write regarding an issue of utmost importance: preventing further Internal…
Blog
Messages of Freedom and Hope from FEEcon
Last week I was in Atlanta enjoying the excitement and intellectual ferment of FEEcon, the annual conference held by the Foundation for Economic Education.
Blog
Cato Institute Honors Human Rights Work of Cuba’s ‘Ladies in White’
Congratulations are in order to our friends at the Cato Institute on their recent big event in New York, the Friedman Prize Dinner. Every two…
Blog
What Exxon Knew: AEI Panel on Recent Climate Change Litigation
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) this week held a panel discussion titled “What did they know, and when did they know it?” on the growing swirl of…
Blog
City of Boulder and Two Colorado Counties Join Climate Shakedown Racket
Boulder, Colorado and Boulder and San Miguel Counties filed suit in state court this week against ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy. The suit claims that petroleum products…
Blog
Prof. Rajshree Agarwal on the Rubin Report: The True Value of Free Enterprise
I’ve been interested over the last several years to see Dave Rubin’s metamorphosis from stand-up comedian to podcast co-host to serious public affairs…
Blog
Facebook Privacy Critics Ignore Benefits of Social Media
Facebook is not a tool designed to violate privacy nor fan the flames of hate, but it and other social media platforms have been some…
Blog
Zuckerberg Testimony Hints at Devil’s Bargain with Big Government
Much of the political class in Washington, D.C. is currently holding its breath for the big event of the week: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s long-awaited…
Blog
Chef Geoff Tracy Fights Virginia’s Happy Hour Ad Ban
Local D.C.-area chef Geoff Tracy is a bacon lover, popular food Instagrammer, and a budding legal activist. This week, aided by his attorneys at the…
Inside Sources
Freedom of Speech Should Protect All Opinion
President Trump has called this country’s libel laws a sham and a disgrace and said he wants to change libel laws to allow liability for…
Blog
Landmark Supreme Court Case Can Restore Worker Freedom
Today at oral argument in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said “You're basically arguing, do away with unions,” when questioning Bill…