The first and most obvious step is for them to adhere to free speech law, and to promote and fervently protect a robust free speech culture. Free speech law will protect us from government attempts to crack down on disfavored speech and information. But a free speech culture is even more important. We need a society where people are not terrified to say what they really believe, if for no other reason than that it allows us to know that’s what they believe. This idea is what Greg calls the Pure Information Theory of free speech. The reality is that it’s inherently valuable to know the world as it really is, and that requires a free and open discourse.

The Founding Fathers thought about bias all the time, which is why they worked the separation of powers and divided government into the American system. These structures are all about finding truth in a situation where you take bias for granted. Academic freedom was meant to be one of those structures, and while it’s not currently working too well, we can fix it. FIRE has been fighting that good fight for more than 25 years

The misinformation crisis isn’t about truth, it’s about trust Without free speech, academic freedom, and confidence in our experts and institutions, no amount of fact-checking will help.