What the rest of the world reminds Americans about the First Amendment

Aug 22, 2024 by Casey Mattox

It’s hard to appreciate what you have when it’s all you’ve ever known.

If you’re reading this, you’ve lived a whole life in a world with the First Amendment.

We quibble about its application in specific cases, many of them very important. But even where government gets it wrong the courts have been consistent in preventing government officials from censoring speech or punishing speakers for “misinformation.”

But it’s easy to forget just how exceptional that makes America.

Fortunately, Europe is working hard recently to remind Americans of our exceptionalism. (And I’m not just talking about Olympic performances!)

At the end of last month, a vicious attack happened in the U.K., with several people stabbed and three children dead at a dance party. In the aftermath, some online speculation and false claims led to riots in London and elsewhere. It was an awful situation.

In response, however, the London Metropolitan Police Commissioner threatened extradition and jail time to any person believed to be fueling the violence through misinformation online – even those, he said, who were “committing crimes from further afield online.”

With all sympathy for the situation in the U.K., this is a moment that should remind us of the importance of the First Amendment.

Our First Amendment is unique in the world, and it is a blessing to live in a country where we can say what we want to say instead of being forced into silence by our government. The First Amendment also provides recourse to those whose speech has been chilled.

It has its limits, of course. For example, speech that is intended to produce imminent lawless acts – including violence against others – is not constitutionally protected.

But without the First Amendment, as in the U.K., government is tempted to respond to violence by shutting down what it deems “offensive” speech – even speech across the globe that was not intended to and was not the cause of any violence.

Situations like this one in the U.K. and other parts of the world remind us that the government cannot be trusted to decide what’s acceptable to say or what the truth is. Government just doesn’t have a very good track record of judging “misinformation,” and it certainly doesn’t have a good track record of limiting its censorship to speech that actually produces the harm it’s supposedly trying to remedy.

Without our First Amendment, you could be jailed if the government suddenly decides it doesn’t like what you’re saying.

Fortunately for the U.S. (and for the rest of the world, whether they realize it or not), the censorial attitudes of European regulators don’t directly affect our rights. And, even better, because our innovation and talent drive the internet, our First Amendment values are being exported to the world.

And that makes some would-be internet censors very unhappy. Seriously, bookmark this tweet below and reread it every time you’re tempted to think that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to give the government more power to regulate speech online.

The last thing Americans need is our own Thierry Breton.

One last note on this: I was heartened to see politicians from both sides of the aisle speak up to condemn this threat to free speech from across the pond. I wish we saw more of that.

Now, with all that said, there’s certainly room for improvement in America when it comes to protecting civil liberties.

For example, the Institute for Justice is battling a particularly egregious example of civil asset forfeiture in the state of Indiana:

And here in D.C., close to where I live, Reagan National Airport recently publicized the fact that this year they piloted a program where they take all the confiscated items from air passengers in the name of “safety” and … donate them to local non-profits.

That’s right, the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and half-used tubes of toothpaste that our federal government decided was too dangerous for you to take on a plane and confiscated from you is apparently safe enough to donate to the needy.

Both examples of this government overreach are unacceptable. Here’s to hoping that changes come swiftly.

Lastly, it’s never the wrong time to remember that Woodrow Wilson was a terrible president. This thread from FIRE reminds us that he was America’s worst-ever president on free speech:

He’d have fit in perfectly with today’s European government censors.

 

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