Dean David M Earle

The University of West Florida hosted another installment in the Seligman First Amendment Lecture Series with Alex Berenson on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at the Museum of Commerce, downtown Pensacola.

Alex Berenson was a reporter for the New York Times from 1999 to 2010. Berenson now writes the Unreported Truths Substack and has written 13 novels and three nonfiction books.

Berenson has emerged as one of the most prominent advocates of First Amendment principles against 21st-century modes of censorship. In his lecture “How to Stop the Internet from Killing Free Speech,” he told the story of his experience in the courts and what has come to light because of his case.

Berenson rose to prominence during the pandemic as a dissenter who was de-platformed by social media companies. He challenged this censorship in the courts. During discovery, evidence emerged that several federal administrative agencies had been involved in the efforts to remove his voice from the public discourse. His court victories helped pave the way for the more prominent challenge to censorship by government agencies before the Supreme Court this term in Murthy v. Missouri.

*The Seligman First Amendment Lecture Series fosters dialogue on campus and in the community about the First Amendment freedoms of religion, speech, press and association. It is made possible by a generous gift from the Jane G. and Fred K. Seligman Endowment.