Available in Russian
DOI: 10.21128/1812-7126-2025-1-120-149
Author: Alexander Kulnev
Keywords: freedom of speech; regulation of social networks; marketplace of ideas; fake news; misinformation
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in both scholarly and legislative interest in regulating the dissemination of disinformation on the Internet. Social networks form a specific information environment, which calls into question the established approach to freedom of speech. It is said that traditionally freedom of speech has been viewed as a guarantee that the people will independently filter out false ideas and arrive at the truth. However, something has evidently gone wrong: social networks have become inundated with false information, and their users are no longer inclined toward constructive dialogue. When considering public discourse as a marketplace of ideas, it is quite evident that it has failed and requires governmental intervention. This article critically examines such alarmist takes on the issue. The marketplace of ideas is a metaphor, not a model predicting the inevitable triumph of truth; therefore, it is unacceptable to justify governmental intervention in public discourse based on any inefficiency. Statements may only be restricted if they harm legally protected interests of citizens, and these negative consequences must be clearly explained and demonstrated by the legislators. There should also be proven causality between speech and harm. All these checkpoints are absent in propositions for fake news regulation. The negative consequences to discourse, rationality or democracy itself that are said to justify government regulation cannot be empirically verified. What is presented as evidence of the impact of fake news actually only confirms the breadth of its dissemination, irrelevant to any negative consequences of such content. The Internet or social media have not changed fundamental precepts of freedom of speech. That is the rejection of the state as an arbiter of truth or overseer of the rationality of citizens’ decision-making, and there are no valid reasons to abandon this principle. In the absence of harm, the current version of discourse on the Internet, including that represented by fake news, cannot be subject to government regulation.
About the author: Alexander Kulnev – Attorney of the Dispute Resolution and Mediation Practice at “Pepeliaev Group”, Moscow, Russia.
Citation:
Kulnev A. (2025) Feykovye novosti na rynke idey: kriticheskiy vzglyad na amerikanskuyu teoreticheskuyu diskussiyu [Fake news on the marketplace of ideas: a critical review of the American theoretical discussion. Sravnitel'noe konstitutsionnoe obozrenie, vol.34, no.1, pp.120–149. (In Russian).
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