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Comment by slg | Hacker News Reader

We have to separate the words from the action of saying those words. The words on Twitter do sometimes include slander and threats which would make them illegal. However, often the words themselves are perfectly legal. That doesn't mean the action of speaking those words are legal. Using your example, imagine someone standing just outside your property and yelling at you 24/7. The words themselves might not be a problem but it doesn't mean they can't be charged with any number of crimes from disturbing the peace to harassment. Social media bots can function in a similar way.

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> The words on Twitter do sometimes include slander and threats which would make them illegal.

The idea of a nebulous "illegality" is simplistic and wrong, in the US. They might open an individual to civil liability, but they aren't in violation of a criminal code, nor tort law.

> That doesn't mean the action of speaking those words are legal

Speech is always legal, in the US. What you think "legal" means is up for debate.

Not all speech is always legal in the USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Illegal_speech_in_the...

Note that the cases where speech is not legal are significantly more narrow than most people think they are. The category you link to has only 11 pages, and half of them are court cases where the Supreme Court decided against limiting free speech. (In particular, the famous "shouting fire in a crowded theater" quote is from a 1919 case that was overturned in 1969, and shouting fire in a crowded theater is not, in fact, illegal. Inadvisable, probably, and likely to get you banned from that theater for life, but not illegal.)

> imagine someone standing just outside your property and yelling at you 24/7

People protest all the time in similar ways.

Also, you can block people/bots on social media.

>People protest all the time in similar ways.

Sure, that is why protesters are routinely arrested even though the first amendment exists.

>Also, you can block people/bots on social media.

The sole responsibility of policing and punishing this behavior should not fall on the victims of this behavior.

Protesters are routinely arrested (in the US) for things like blocking traffic, unlawfully carrying weapons or other safety issues, not because they are voicing disagreement with "the man".

Blocking someone is neither policing nor punishing, it's simply ignoring; actual censorship still falls to the platform itself.

> someone standing just outside your property and yelling at you 24/7

Around the clock shouting in residential neighborhoods is likely to get you fined for disturbing the peace.

But, you can send hate mail, or shout in some public spaces and be just fine.

Sending angry emails or tweets sounds most like the former.

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