Legal scholar reacts to Harris comment about free speech, Brazil's ban of Elon Musk's X
A Harris-Walz presidency would be ‘a perfect nightmare’ for free speech: Jonathan Turley
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley weighs in on mounting concerns over free speech in the U.S. following Brazil’s move to ban X.
Brazil emerged as a new front in the battle over free speech after the South American country's Supreme Court upheld a ban on X, a decision that has many concerned whether a similar move could happen in the U.S. On "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, author and constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley argued Americans need to take the concerns "seriously," warning the anti-free speech movement is "now reaching our shores."
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JONATHAN TURLEY: We have to take this far more seriously than that. In my new book, 'The Indispensable Right,' I talk about this anti-free speech movement that's been growing around the world. That wave is now reaching our shores, and they have largely been unsuccessful in convincing people to give up freedom. This is a hard sell. You got to get a free people to give up some freedom, and it hasn't worked. Facebook even did a commercial campaign to get young people to embrace censorship. So this is plan B. You have in Europe threats against Musk for arrest. They've already arrested another CEO of a platform. But it's really Brazil that I think many in the anti-free speech movement are watching carefully. If Brazil can succeed in banning Twitter from the entire country, it will be replicated because many hold the view of what you just heard from Vice President Harris. They view speech as a privilege. It's like a driver's license that they think that can be rescinded if you're reckless. And this is the ultimate destination for this movement, where if they can't convince people to give up their own freedoms to embrace censorship, they're going to start to take sites offline to prevent people from hearing opposing views.
UNITED STATES - JULY 24: Elon Musk is seen during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
There's a movement to amend the First Amendment. One of my colleagues is leading that. They say that the First Amendment is aggressively individualistic, which is sort of the point. But no, we need more protection through Congress. And this should be the issue of this election. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the only presidential election where free speech was the central issue. Free speech is on the ballot, not democracy. Free speech is on the ballot because, quite frankly, a Harris-Walz administration would be a perfect nightmare for free speech.
Alexandre de Moraes, justice of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court, left, speaks during a session at the Supreme Court building in Brasilia, Brazil, on Wednesday, April 17, 2024. Elon Musk's X social media platform will comply with all orders from Brazil's Supreme Court, a week following top Justice Moraes's decision to open an investigation into Musk and the billionaire saying he would defy the court. (Ton Molina/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Brazilian Supreme Court upheld a ban on X Monday after a court-imposed deadline expired for the company to identify a legal representative in Brazil.
Brazilian Judge Alexandre de Moraes first made the decision over the weekend after finding that the platform allowed postings that he deemed had undermined Brazil’s democracy.
Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva backed de Moraes’ decision.
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While Brazil's free speech battle rages on, concerns of a similar reality are mounting in the U.S, particularly in light of the Biden-Harris administration's alleged connections with censorship efforts.
Prior to becoming vice president, Kamala Harris told CNN she believed former President Trump has ‘lost his privileges’ to use Twitter, supporting his ban on the social media platform.
"We're talking about a private corporation, Twitter, that has terms of use. And as far as I'm concerned, and I think most people would say, including members of Congress who he has threatened, that he has lost his privileges and it should be taken down... There has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power," Harris said.
FOX Business' Stepheny Price contributed to this report.
This article was written by Fox News staff.
