July 11, 2025

The character of every act depends on the circumstances in which it is done…The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre and causing a panic.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935), American Supreme Court justice, Schenck v. U.S., 249 US 47 (1919), Seldes, p.190

How often, if ever, did you find yourself on the wrong side of a free speech issue—invoking the right to say something that you knew was patently wrong? Or denying the right to one speaking in support of something with which you disagreed?

Holmes’ “man falsely shouting fire in a crowded theatre” is the classic American justification of the need for a limitation on free speech. The only problem is that this graphic metaphor for unprotected speech doesn’t readily translate into matters subject to present-day socio-political debate—a man falsely shouting fire on social media.