Actually, Tim Walz, the First Amendment Does Protect Misinformation and ‘Hate Speech’

After Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate, a video made the rounds showing Walz saying in an interview that there is “no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”

While such a sentiment has become disturbingly popular with some Americans and policy-makers like Governor Walz, it is incorrect. The First Amendment does guarantee free speech when it comes to both misinformation and hate speech. Individuals and public officials may detest and condemn such speech, and platforms may choose not to carry it, but to insert the government into regulation of such expression would both set a troubling precedent and undermine our current First Amendment principles in ways that should concern Americans across the political spectrum.