SRG01 said:
Now here's an interesting debate: whether true or false, do defamation and slander, along with other hate speech, fall under free speech?
Yes and no. The First Amendment protects free speech and covers expressive speech that could be referred to as hate speech.
The First Amendment does not immunize a cyber mob's conduct from regulation. The Supremem Court has held that the First Amendment permits restrictions on speech that offers "such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from it is clearly out-weighed by the social interest in order and morality."
This is equally true for threats, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional duress, and civil rights violations.
States can use criminal and civil law to forbid threats. It is up to them to do so.Threats fall outside of First Amendment protection. The First Amendment does not protect "true threats", as perceived by excessive invasion of privacy. If the perpetrator does so much as create use photos or images or publishes the address of the victim or impedes upon his/her ability to free speech, they would not be protected.
Most of the above was excerpted from a book I'm reading called
The Offensive Internet.