Tim Walz says misinformation and hate speech is not protected speech in resurfaced video and gets lambasted on social media
Tim Walz, the newly named Democratic candidate for vice president, got torched online after a video resurfaced where he appeared to undermine free speech rights.
“I think we need to push back on this. There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” said Walz in the eight-second clip widely circulated on social media.
The context
The short clip was cut from an interview on MSNBC from December where Walz is discussing speech used to influence the previous election. The interviewer asked him about efforts in the election to fool voters that were previously considered “shenanigans” but were becoming more “ominous,” as she described it.
“Years ago it was the little things, telling people to vote the day after the election, and you know, we kinda brushed them off. Now we know it’s intimidation at the ballot box. It’s undermining the idea that mail-in ballots aren’t legal,” responded Walz.
‘This is a dangerous—and constitutionally illiterate—idea. If the First Amendment only protects ‘true’ speech, then the govt gets to decide what is true.’
“I think we need to push back on this. There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy,” he added. “Tell the truth, where the voting places are, who can vote, who’s able to be there, and watching some states continue to weaken the protections around the ballot I think is what’s inspiring us to lean into this.”
Walz was referring to the prosecution of Douglass Mackey, who ran a pro-Trump account that posted a meme misinforming Democrat voters in the 2016 election. He was sentenced to seven months in prison in what many on the right criticized as a politically motivated infringement on free speech.
The backlash
Many rushed to criticize Walz for siding against free speech even when it can be categorized as hate speech or misinformation.
“This is a dangerous—and constitutionally illiterate—idea. If the First Amendment only protects ‘true’ speech, then the govt gets to decide what is true. That means there is no free speech,” replied Jason Bedrick of Heritage Foundation.
“This is, in fact, misinformation and disturbing. But pretty on brand for a guy on a D ticket. Hope the high schoolers got out of his class without this lecture!” said commentator Mary Katharine Ham.
“Apparently, he was a social studies teacher. To be fair, this absolutely tracks with the quality of that one class in high school they made the football coach teach,” responded writer Emily Zanotti.
“This is who Tim Walz really is. An angry unpleasant communist. He’s not this smiley, cheerful ‘dad’ they are pushing on us,” read another response.
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