John Kerry says First Amendment is 'major block' to censoring 'disinformation'

At the World Economic Forum Sustainable Development Impact Meetings in New York City Wednesday, John Kerry, the Biden-Harris administration's former climate czar and former secretary of state, claimed the First Amendment is not so much about protecting free speech but about putting “disinformation… out of existence.”

"If people go to only one source and the source they go to is sick and has an agenda and they’re putting out disinformation," he said, "our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to just hammer it out of existence."

Kerry claimed that “dislike of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing and growing” and that it is a “problem” in democratic countries because it is hard “building consensus around any issue” and “to govern.” The former secretary of state spoke of a pre-social media age where there were media “referees” who used to “determine what’s a fact” for Americans.

He said discussion should focus on “how you curb those entities” in the social media and to “have some accountability on facts. But look, if people go to only one source, and the source they go to is sick and, you know, has an agenda and they're putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence.”

Kerry suggested that “democracies are very challenged right now, and have not proven they can move fast enough or big enough to deal with the challenges that we are facing. And to me, that is part of what this race, this election is all about. Will we break the fever in the United States?”