How should the government regulate election-related speech? Trump’s “Big Lie” raises the question of whether lies about election results should be regulated by the social media platforms, as well as the government. But of course, these kinds of lies are not the only kinds of election-related lies that raise thorny free speech questions. Can or should foreign actors be able to intervene in electoral speech in the run-up to elections? How much should campaign finance law be used to patrol misinformation and disinformation about election donations and spending? Can there be stricter regulation of election-related speech without that justifying vote-suppressing laws targeting virtually nonexistent election fraud? More fundamentally, how exceptional should we consider the electoral context when it comes to the regulation of lies? And how do race, nationality, and gender play into both election-related disinformation and its regulation?
