Konspirationsteorier og ytringsfrihedens grænser

Are Conspiracy theories protected by the right to free speech?

Conspiracy theories has been around for a long period of time, and at the moment one of the largest groups of conspiracists is QAnon. QAnon also believed that the American election was stolen from former president Donald Trump, and they especially grew during the lockdown in 2020. Looking at the newspaper article in Bennet Institute for Public Policy, “Conspiracy theories vs Free speech - should we regulate social media?” by Joseph E. Uscinski and Dr. Tanya Filer. This essay will discuss the relation between conspiracy theories and Free Speech.

For quite a long period of time there have been discussions about whether Conspiracy theories have a bit of truth in them. A lot of these theories are just being thrown on tables and (maybe) or never proven. To make it even more weird, there actually is a conspiracy theory about how conspiracy theories were invented (some people believe CIA was involved). But what is the real relation between Conspiracy theories and freedom of Speech?

My definition of Conspiracy Theories: A belief that an event or situation has happened, without having the proof for it such as a “Hispanic invasion of Texas” according to the New York times, article from Keller, Jared written for Pacific Standard.