The Misinformation Challenge: How Information Freedom Promotes Democratic Discourse

The contemporary discourse surrounding misinformation has generated unprecedented calls for government intervention in information markets and content regulation. While acknowledging legitimate concerns about false information’s potential harms, this article argues that top-down regulatory approaches fundamentally misunderstand both the nature of democratic discourse and the most effective means of promoting information quality. Drawing on classical liberal principles and empirical evidence, I demonstrate that decentralized information governance systems, market competition, and robust protection of free expression provide superior frameworks for addressing misinformation challenges while preserving the foundational elements of freedom within a democratic society. My research examines historical patterns of novel moral paradigms surrounding new communication technologies, and in doing so it evaluates evidence regarding the effects of misinformation and presents the case for distributed, bottom-up approaches to information quality that strengthen rather than constrain democratic discourse and the ideals of liberty.

Recommended citation: Rice, James Kennon. (2026). "The Misinformation Challenge: How Information Freedom Promotes Democratic Discourse." Journal of Libertarian Studies, 29(2), 176-208.
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