National

With the 2024 elections gearing up, we’ll return to one of the topics that our participants keep circling back to—the role of money in politics.

• How much of a problem is the Citizens United decision, which provides that corporations and other outside groups can spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.
• Is the problem really with “corporate” speech, or is it “moneyed” speech (regardless of the form of the speaker)?
• Does money equate to speech? (Can money supporting speech be regulated without running afoul of the First Amendment?)
• Should wealthy people be able to purchase advertising (whether broadcast, cable, social media, “swag,” or otherwise) to express their views?
  • Does it matter if those views are about an issue in general versus a candidate in particular? How can we tell the difference?
• Should anonymous speech be allowed, or should every speaker (or money behind the speaker, advertisement, etc.) be publicly identified?
• Bottom line: if this is a problem to be solved, how can it be done without infringing on other rights? Where’s the middle ground?

As we head into the core of the U.S. election season, the media (rightly) is refocusing on the prevalence of “disinformation” or propaganda to which voters (and children, and others) are exposed. So we’ll revisit the subject on Monday.

• What is “disinformation”–does it depend on the “eye of the beholder?”
• How do Americans obtain their “news”–cable TV, newspapers, social media, word of mouth?
• If social media is as important and influential as many think, should the providers be regulated in some way? (And, if so, how?)
  • Is the TikTok hubbub a special case, or are many of its issues endemic to the entire social media space?
• Do media “fact checkers” make a difference?
• What can be done to diminish the influence of disinformation within our society?

Here are a few potentially relevant readings (from amongst many):

• How Trump’s Allies Are Winning the War Over Disinformation (NYT)
• What to Know About the TikTok Bill That the House Passed (NYT)
• The TikTok debate featured many disputed claims. Here are 7 of them (WaPo)