@knightcolumbia.org
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University defends the freedoms of speech & the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, policy advocacy, and public education. https://knightcolumbia.org/
New in our Reconstructing Free Expression series, from @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social: A look at the civic and informational infrastructure that underpins free expression and the reforms needed to secure it. knightcolumbia.org/blog/the-inf...
At the @knightcolumbia.org, @akapczynski.bsky.social proposes a People’s College—the right to a two-year college degree at the accredited college of one’s choice—as a structural remedy for our free speech crisis.
For @knightcolumbia.org's "Reconstructing Free Expression" project, @ksabeelrahman.bsky.social argues that addressing the current democratic crisis will require "reckoning with laws and practices that have been accepted by both parties for the last 20-plus years" knightcolumbia.org/blog/the-inf...
For our AI and Democratic Freedoms series, @ghadfield.bsky.social, Rakshit S. Trivedi, and @dhadfieldmenell.bsky.social discuss building #AI agents with normative competence: the computational ability to detect social sanctions, link them to specific behaviors, and adjust future actions accordingly.
For our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @akapczynski.bsky.social proposes a People’s College offering govt-funded 2-year degrees to all U.S. adults, with institutions required to agree to standards that would make #highered more democratically accountable. knightcolumbia.org/blog/the-peo...
The use of social media to target dissenters, long a risk, has soared in the 2nd Trump admin. In light of the overreach, there may soon be more receptivity to tackling this issue. @rlevinsonwaldman.bsky.social details legal and policy solutions, via @knightcolumbia.org:
NEWS: @knightcolumbia.org, @rcfp.org, @thefireorg.bsky.social filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to hold that geofence warrants violate the Fourth Amendment, as dragnet location-data searches threaten #privacy, #freespeech, political and religious association. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
In a new contribution to our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @rlevinsonwaldman.bsky.social writes about how courts and Congress can curtail the government’s use of social media to surveil people’s First Amendment-protected activities. knightcolumbia.org/blog/ending-...
Here’s @rlevinsonwaldman.bsky.social on protecting free speech and privacy against unregulated surveillance of social media. knightcolumbia.org/blog/ending-...
🗓️ THIS MONTH: On 3/27, @knightcolumbia.org and @oliviersylvain.bsky.social host an event on middleware and social media. In wrestling with the enormous power platforms exert over #freespeech online, advocates look to the future of this third-party software. RSVP: knightcolumbia.org/events/can-m...
🗓️ TOMORROW at 4pm ET: Join @splc.org's State of Student Press Freedom panel event. Amid escalating censorship, intimidation and legal threats, hear directly from student editors at the center of some of the biggest stories of the past year. #StudentPressFreedom RSVP: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Senior counsel @scottbwilkens.bsky.social comments on Judge Cannon's decision this week to block the release of Jack Smith's report about Trump’s mishandling of classified docs at Mar-a-Lago, and describes the path ahead on appeal on @allrisenews.com. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7G...
“It’s very concerning that [Trump's] sanctions continue to have such a broad deterrent effect on speech that is undoubtedly protected by the First Amendment,” says staff attorney @georgewang.bsky.social. Read more in @theguardian.com by @alicesperi.bsky.social. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
🚨 MEDIA ADVISORY – TODAY at 2pm ET: AAUP v. Rubio hearing on Trump administration’s motion for a partial stay of the court’s January order, which makes clear the administration's ideological deportation policy must stop.
Press can join in person or online: forms.mad.uscourts.gov/seating-sign...
Panelists will discuss C4D's proposed framework for measuring and explaining social media feed algorithms explored in this @knightcolumbia.org essay, "Into the Driver's Seat With Social Media Content Feeds," and consider the legal and policy implications.
knightcolumbia.org/content/into...
Tune in to: How Do Social Media Feeds Actually Work? a panel discussion w/ Knight Institute Sr. Policy Fellow @oliviersylvain.bsky.social, and C4D's Laura Edelson (@whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) and @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social.
Thurs. Feb. 26, 1-2 pm.
Streaming: www.youtube.com/@Cybersecuri...
This is great. A rich and insightful conversation about press freedom and contemporary threats to it—with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social & former @knightcolumbia.org visiting scholars @randersenjones.bsky.social & @sonjawest.bsky.social. slate.com/news-and-pol...
In the first post of our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @jamalgreene.bsky.social writes about the limits of courts as defenders of free expression and what kinds of institutions could bolster this work. knightcolumbia.org/blog/free-ex...
Really excellent brief, filed earlier today, from First Amendment scholars in support of @knightcolumbia.org's motion for public access to Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago report. Thanks to @mfia-clinic.bsky.social for putting it together. knightcolumbia.org/documents/ak...
"Judge Young’s historic ruling correctly held that this policy is unconstitutional. But without stronger relief, noncitizen students and faculty will continue to be chilled from speaking out on issues that are important to them," says @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...
Highly recommend this interview with Carlos Dada, whose work at El Faro should be a model and inspiration for independent journalists everywhere.
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/carlos-...
For our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @dorfonlaw.bsky.social proposes support for #AI recognition tools and empowering truth-verifying entities to support the role of truth as a free speech value. Read here: knightcolumbia.org/blog/support...
My thoughts for @knightcolumbia.org on what to do about the private as well as gov authoritarianism that helps explain why, even tho they are not broadly popular, the admin's efforts at ideological control have often been so successful...
Judge Cannon today rejected @knightcolumbia.org's effort to compel the release of Jack Smith’s report on President Trump’s alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. @scottbwilkens.bsky.social says "there is no legitimate basis for its continued suppression." @politico.com.
For our Reconstructing Free Expression series, @genevievelakier.bsky.social looks at why the First Amendment fails to fulfill its anti-authoritarian role, and what doctrinal changes can be made to facilitate the creation of a more anti-authoritarian public sphere. knightcolumbia.org/blog/the-ant...
“Judge Cannon’s decision to permanently block the release of this extraordinarily significant report is impossible to square with the First Amendment and the common law,” says senior counsel @scottbwilkens.bsky.social.
NEWS: Judge Aileen Cannon “Permanently” Blocks Release of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Report in Trump Classified Documents Case. @knightcolumbia.org says First Amendment requires disclosure and appeal seeking report’s release remains pending. More here: knightcolumbia.org/content/judg...
Judge Cannon has just denied @knightcolumbia.org & @weareoversight.bsky.social motions to intervene and permanently barred DOJ from disclosing Jack Smith's report. She says (again) that Smith was appointed unconstitutionally, and that the report is the fruit of the unconstitutional appointment.
First contribution to @knightcolumbia.org’s new initiative on “Reconstructing Free Expression” is from @jamalgreene.bsky.social—and it is exceptionally insightful and worth reading. knightcolumbia.org/blog/free-ex...
The Institute's policy director @nadinefj.bsky.social, @cdt.org's @alexreevegivens.bsky.social, and @cato.org's John Samples joined Knight Media Forum 2026's panel on AI and the Future of Free Expression earlier this month. ⬇️ Watch the full conversation below: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsjT...