Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing?: The Modern Marketplace of Ideas

This Article argues that though the state of the marketplace looks grim, it is not dead yet. Rather, we have entered an era in which the role of the marketplace is shifting. Instead of representing the proverbial promised land of truth and expression, the marketplace is serving an important role in the pursuit of democratic self-governance. From private media companies offering fact-checking services to combat false news to teenagers using social media to call citizens to action on gun reform, the marketplace appears to be adapting.

But it remains to be seen whether the marketplace can continue to best serve the principles of free speech in our ever-changing and ever-debating society. Working in tandem, the marketplace and self-governance theories may just preserve the rights we hold dear in our First Amendment doctrine in this new era of speech. Part II of this Article provides a brief overview of the market-place-of-ideas model, including a discussion of its benefits and critiques. Part III explains why the traditional marketplace model does not comport with our current modes of speech and investigates whether the self-governance theory and the liberty theory of free expression should be the standard model for free speech under the First Amendment.

Part IV explores the modern marketplace of ideas and posits that self-governance and liberty theories help facilitate changes in our understanding of free speech and tools that ultimately preserve the marketplace’s role in society.