Who Pays for "Free" Speech?
Law professor Eric Heinze reminds us that for all the rhetoric about free speech, demonstrations and protests often impose on the public costs of millions of dollars.
Speech can be free because it does not impose costs on anyone. As long as I obey the law, I should be free to march and protest wherever and whenever I please because no one else needs to pay. Right?
Wrong. All of us pay for free speech, and it is not cheap. For example, digital speech depends on infrastructure, such as vast data storage centers. And cooling systems in these data storage centers consume millions of gallons of water per day, at rates often negotiated below what is paid by ordinary residents. This is a corporate subsidy. Who pays? The public.
But okay, one might say, that is not a dramatic example, so consider another one. At times of social unrest, the costs of free speech play out dramatically. Large protests require police cover, and the taxpayer must finance this too, with price tags quickly skyrocketing into the millions. In June of this year, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out dozens of surprise raids in Los Angeles. The move sparked demonstrations that cost the local government more than $20 million for policing and repairs to property, in addition to likely litigation costs later on.
Timeless reading in a fleeting world.
