> should misinformation like this be protected by free speech laws as well? Or can we carve out a narrow exception for just blatantly lying and writing fake new

> should misinformation like this be protected by free speech laws as well? Or can we carve out a narrow exception for just blatantly lying and writing fake news, like we already do in libel laws and in cases of phishing and fraud? Who do you trust to act as the arbiter of truth? I could maybe get on board if it was required to prove that the accused was spreading information that they personally knew was not true, and that there was actual harm done, but even then I have little faith that such a law would not be abused in some way. There is no way I would be on board with making it illegal to spread certain information simply because some entity decided to label it “misinformation”. We’ve already seen that things can very quickly change from “misinformation” to plausible theory worthy of serious consideration, e.g. the COVID lab leak theory.