This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Solvable. I'm Jacob Weisberg.

Every time you browse around online, you have a teeny bit of power as a consumer in what you

elevate and amplify and engage with.

Since its beginnings, the Internet was meant to be a vehicle for free, uncensored communication.

Though the Internet is international, the model was in many respects

based on the First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free expression in the United States.

But as we've all seen in recent years, free speech can also suppress speech. The same freedom

that promotes creativity and collaboration can become a tool to spread lies and propaganda.

Misinformation usually refers to facts that turn out to be wrong, and disinformation refers to wrong facts that are being deliberately peddled for a political end.

So it's the more kind of sinister version.

Disinformation now threatens American democracy directly.

Malicious foreign actors, including the Russian government,

are taking active measures to sow confusion and cynicism.

And it's unclear where the responsibility falls for separating facts from

falsehoods. If you don't want the government to have any power over online speech, then you have

to recognize that you have made Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey at Twitter and whoever runs

YouTube, the czars of speech. So you just got to reckon with that.

I mean, the First Amendment is the closest thing to religion and the households I've lived in.

And the idea that it's broken or needs to be modified or limited in some way is, I mean, honestly, I can only go back to these religious terms.

It feels heretical to me.

Yes, I know.

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