Jameel Jaffer

Some big news: We’re suing NSO Group, the spyware company, on behalf of fifteen journalists and others who were the victims of spyware attacks in El Salvador.
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/el-faro-journalists-knight-institute-sue-nso-group-over-spyware

I remember when shutting down access to social media platforms was a tactic we associated with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and, well, China https://www.wsj.com/articles/tiktok-ban-in-montana-sets-off-first-amendment-legal-fight-5a06d701

We're suing Texas over its TikTok ban. Filed this morning in Austin. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/tik-tok-ban-texas-lawsuit/

This committee has it backwards. The First Amendment doesn't restrict researchers from sharing their findings with platforms, or even with government. It might have something to say about congressional investigations meant to chill that activity, though. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/19/business/gop-disinformation-researchers-2024-election.html?searchResultPosition=1

We're looking for someone exceptional who can help us build out a policy program on free speech & new tech. This won't look like other programs--it will reflect @knightcolumbia@mastodon.online's unique mandate, culture, and resources. Please send the best people our way. https://knightcolumbia.org/page/policy-director

Thanks to @mehdihasan@journa.host for hosting this vaguely absurd debate between me and
Jamil N. Jaffer about the misguided proposal to ban Americans from accessing TikTok. https://www.msnbc.com/mehdi-on-msnbc/watch/should-we-ban-chinese-owned-tiktok-an-actual-debate-179194437654

Here’s the list of scholars & tech policy experts who'll participate in @knightcolumbia@mastodon.online's project on Jawboning and the First Amendment. Amazing group. We'll be publishing posts from each of them over the next few weeks. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/knight-institute-announces-scholars-litigators-and-tech-policy-experts-who-will-participate-in-initiative-on-jawboning-and-the-first-amendment

This is the brief we filed earlier today in Gonzalez v. Google. It's a genuinely hard case, and every position we considered involved difficult trade-offs. This is where we landed. We tried to be upfront about the pluses and minuses of our argument. Thanks to Stacy Livingston, Scott Wilkens, and @alexabdo@mastodon.social, who did the heavy lifting on this. https://knightcolumbia.org/documents/sj183mk92w

First post in @knightcolumbia@mastodon.online's new series about ”jawboning” comes from Ashutosh Bhagwat, who's not impressed by the Fifth Circuit’s “muddled” decision in MO v. Biden. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/persuasion-or-coercion-the-fifth-circuits-muddled-view-of-missouri-v-biden

As part of a year-long collaboration with
@randomwalker.bsky.social, we’re publishing a dozen essays about "algorithmic amplification"—what it is, whether we should worry about it, what could be done to harness its benefits & mitigate its harms. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/exploring-algorithmic-amplification-a-new-essay-series

Government actors sometimes ask, pressure, or "jawbone" platforms to take down speech. When is this a legit aspect of governance, and when is it a violation of the First Amendment? A Knight Institute convening this fall--call for proposals here. https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/jawboning-call-for-proposals

Just filed. https://knightcolumbia.org/content/knight-institute-asks-court-to-rule-quickly-on-researchers-challenge-to-texas-tiktok-ban

In Copenhagen earlier this week, CNN's Melissa Mahtani moderated a debate between Nathan Law and me about whether democracies should ban their citizens from accessing TikTok. Turns out to have been timely. Video here. https://youtu.be/x7As38GT-JU

Looking forward to debating this topic in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Thanks to the Summit for Democracy for the invitation, and to Nathan Law and Melissa Mahtani as well. https://copenhagendemocracysummit.com/2023

Thanks to NYU's Vasant Dhar for inviting me to talk with him about free speech, the regulation of social media, and what we should expect from the Supreme Court. https://bravenewpodcast.com/episodes/2023/07/13/episode-66-jameel-jaffer-on-free-speech-in-the-social-media-age/

Excellent story here about the prospects for a federal TikTok ban. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/tiktok-ban-us-congress.html

@blakereid@mastodon.lawprofs.org @mattblaze@federate.social @SteveBellovin@mastodon.lawprofs.org @jalcine@todon.eu I think TikTok would have standing. Or an association that included TikTok as a member--like Netchoice. TikTok users would have standing, too.