UCI Law launches Fair Elections and Free Speech Center

Irvine, Calif., July 20, 2021 — The University of California, Irvine School of Law (UCI Law) is delighted to announce the launch of the new Fair Elections and Free Speech Center. The Center is dedicated to advancing an understanding of, and offering means to counter, threats to the stability and legitimacy of democratic governments exacerbated by the unregulated growth of digital media and other technological changes in mass communication.

Trump Sues @Facebook’s @finkd , @Twitter’s @Jack Dorsey and @Google’s @sundarpichai: @FreeSpeechMTSU Expert @KenPaulson1 Available to Discuss with Reporters

Banned from Twitter indefinitely and from Facebook for until 2023, embattled former President Donald Trump filed class action lawsuits July 7, against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. In this latest step, Trump…

Media Law, Communication, and Free Speech Expert Comments on Supreme Court Ruling on a Student’s Profane Rant

Jason Shepard, professor of Communications at California State University, Fullerton, specializes in media law and is available to comment on this morning’s 8-1 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the free speech of a high school cheerleader who posted a profane rant on Snapchat in 2017.

UCI experts produce guide for defense attorneys fighting use of rap lyrics in trials

Irvine, Calif., June 9, 2021 — Criminology and legal experts at the University of California, Irvine have released Rap on Trial: A Legal Guide for Attorneys, to help protect artists from having their lyrics used against them in court. Rap lyrics have been introduced as evidence in hundreds of cases, and a high-profile ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals recently allowed a few lines of rap to help put a man behind bars for 50 years.

MTSU Free Speech Center’s new First Amendment report offers ‘creative ways’ to reach college students

“Learning About Liberty: Facilitating First Amendment Engagement Among American University Students” is a new report by the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University that finds that college students don’t know much about their First Amendment freedoms, but their professors can help address that gap.

WashU Expert: Freedom of speech, the NBA and China

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey recently tweeted in support of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, causing reaction from the NBA and from China.Following Morey’s tweet, NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed support for Morey’s freedom of speech. But in response, China’s state broadcaster CCTV punished the NBA by canceling broadcasts of two preseason NBA games.