Free Speech Does Not Protect Cyberharassment
Document Type
Blog Post
Publication Date
12-3-2014
Language
en-US
Abstract
Trolling — like the kind of exploitative abuse spewed against Zelda Williams on Twitter after her father’s death last week — is often nasty and hurtful. But it is routinely protected expression. Internet users are free to use words and images to get a rise out of others, even at their most vulnerable. In this case, two individuals tweeted photographs of dead bodies to a young woman and wrote that her deceased father would be “ashamed” of her — forcing her to quit the service altogether. These acts are offensive, disturbing and mean-spirited, and yet, they are examples of constitutionally protected speech.
Recommended Citation
Danielle K. Citron,
Free Speech Does Not Protect Cyberharassment
,
in
The New York Times
(2014).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/shorter_works/66
Publisher URL
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/08/19/the-war-against-online-trolls/free-speech-does-not-protect-cyberharassment
