"The good news is that tech companies
don’t have to rely on vague, malleable and hotly contested definitions
of hate speech to deal with conspiracy theorists like Mr. Jones. The far
better option would be to prohibit libel or slander on their platforms.
To be sure, this would tie their
hands more: Unlike “hate speech,” libel and slander have legal meanings.
There is a long history of using libel and slander laws to protect
especially private figures from false claims. It’s properly more
difficult to use those laws to punish allegations directed at public
figures, but even then there are limits on intentionally false factual
claims.
It’s a high bar. But it’s a
bar that respects the marketplace of ideas, avoids the politically
charged battle over ever-shifting norms in language and culture and
provides protection for aggrieved parties."
