Courts have long held that falsehoods damaging the reputation of a person or business aren't protected as free speech, but lies about subjects, like science, history or the government, are.
Alex Jones is facing a hefty price tag for his lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — $49.3 million in damages, and counting, for claiming the nation's deadliest school shooting was a hoax — a punishing salvo in a fledgling war on harmful misinformation.
U.S. courts have long held that defamatory statements — falsehoods damaging the reputation of a person or a business — aren't protected as free speech, but lies about other subjects, like science, history or the government, are. For example, saying COVID-19 isn't real is not defamatory, but spreading lies about a doctor treating coronavirus patients is.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, the parents of one of 20 first graders killed at the Connecticut school in 2012, said they hoped a big-money verdict against Jones would serve as a deterrent to him and others who peddle misinformation for profit. But despite the public theatrics, Jones never got to make that argument in court. After Jones failed to comply with orders to hand over critical evidence, a judge entered a default judgment for the plaintiffs and skipped right to the punishment phase.
Free speech experts say any chilling effect should be limited to people who wantonly disseminate false information, not journalists or other citizens making good-faith efforts to get at the truth of a matter. As for Jones, Reynal said he isn't going away any time soon. He'll remain on the air while they appeal the verdict, one of the largest and highest-profile decisions in a defamation case in recent years.
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