Cosim Sayid (Washington and Lee University) has posted Cheap Talk, Deepfakes, Epistemic Injustice, False Light, and Free Speech (Idaho Law Review (accepted)) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Defamation is a more or less effective tool in tort law to stop damage to one's reputation, but its scope is limited to content that's literally false. Much reputational harm does not proceed via literally false content; it is a matter of imagistic content or what's implied. Against this opponent, an effective False Light tort is of much use when properly understood as a reputational-rather than privacy-tort. False Light can be wielded against conversational implicature as well as deepfakes. It fulfills our moral imperative to not succumb to cheap talk that works testimonial epistemic injustice against generic reports on others' reputations, which we need to safely and efficiently navigate the world. Fortunately, False Light can be deployed via a wrongfulness-tracking liability-rule to be sensitive to free speech concerns but strict in order to protect the dignity of those injured as well as secure corrective justice.
Recommended.