Sowing Wild Oats: Online Anonymous Commercial Speech, Corporate Takeovers, and A New Commercial Speech Doctrine

Q2 Social Sciences
M. Cavanagh, Tulika M. Varma
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

The interpretation of commercial speech and determining the appropriate level of First Amendment free expression protection have always been problematic. This interpretation is made all the more difficult when such speech is offered anonymously or pseudonymously. The case of pseudonymous online comments on Yahoo’s financial bulletin by Whole Foods’ CEO John Mackey brings to the fore the ambiguity between free speech and commercial speech. Using Mackey’s online comments as a fulcrum for analysis, we discuss the current state of commercial speech and examine some appropriate responses to potentially false or self-serving commercial speech. More specifically, we provide a brief overview of First Amendment jurisprudence addressing anonymous speech and commercial speech, and then argue that a variation on the New York Times v. Sullivan standard should be used in commercial speech cases—requiring First Amendment free-speech protection only for commercial speech that addresses “important public issues.”
播撒狂野的燕麦:网上匿名商业言论,公司收购,和一个新的商业言论原则
对商业言论的解释和确定第一修正案对言论自由保护的适当程度一直存在问题。当这样的演讲是匿名或假名提供时,这种解释变得更加困难。全食超市(Whole Foods)首席执行官约翰•麦基(John Mackey)在雅虎(Yahoo)财务公告上发表的匿名在线评论,突显了言论自由与商业言论之间的模糊性。以麦基的在线评论为支点进行分析,我们讨论了商业言论的现状,并考察了对潜在虚假或自私自利的商业言论的一些适当回应。更具体地说,我们简要概述了第一修正案关于匿名言论和商业言论的判例,然后论证《纽约时报诉沙利文案》标准的一种变体应该用于商业言论案件——要求第一修正案只对涉及“重要公共问题”的商业言论提供言论自由保护。
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来源期刊
First Amendment Studies
First Amendment Studies Social Sciences-Law
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期刊介绍: First Amendment Studies publishes original scholarship on all aspects of free speech and embraces the full range of critical, historical, empirical, and descriptive methodologies. First Amendment Studies welcomes scholarship addressing areas including but not limited to: • doctrinal analysis of international and national free speech law and legislation • rhetorical analysis of cases and judicial rhetoric • theoretical and cultural issues related to free speech • the role of free speech in a wide variety of contexts (e.g., organizations, popular culture, traditional and new media).
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