Beyond Labels

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November 7: Social Media and Elections

One day before the midterm elections, we’ll discuss the impact of social media on political (and other) discussion in the U.S. Potential sub-topics include:

  • Will Elon Musk lose his shirt in his Twitter acquisition?
    • What do we make of his moves at Twitter to date?
      • “Devastating” reduction in staff (according to a NYT news article)
      • Institution of a $7.99 fee for the blue “verified user” check mark
    • Given the $40+ billion purchase price, what would we do if we were in his shoes?
  • More broadly, how should user contributions (speech) on social media be regulated (if at all)?
    • How would that work?
    • Who decides what is true and what is false in a whirlwind of opinions, which are now commonly phrased as statements of fact?
    • Should Section 230 be changed? Interestingly (at least to me), a quick Google search identified more supporters of the existing law than opponents. EFF, Brookings, Cato, Seattle Times.

And we’ll undoubtedly find time to discuss Tuesday’s elections.

Biden student loan forgiveness program – will it survive a court challenge? Should it?

Another question about the Biden student loan forgiveness program is whether the President has the legal authority to implement it by executive order, particularly after Congress has refused to enact such a program for more than a decade.

If the President has that authority, is it wise to do so for this purpose in light of the risk that the Supreme Court will overturn the executive order and further limit the President’s authority? Is the Supreme Court likely to uphold the use of executive authority in this case, given its stance on a moratorium on residential evictions based on the Covid pandemic, OSHA’s attempt to impose Covid vaccination requirements on employees of large private businesses, and the limits the Court has recently imposed on the EPA to regulate what the Court has deemed to be a “major question” that has a broad impact on the economy? Here’s an article from Boston University discussing some of these questions.

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