Ashutosh Bhagwat
Ashutosh Bhagwat

Ashutosh Bhagwat is a Distinguished Professor of Law and the Boochever and Bird Endowed Chair at the University of California, Davis School of Law. He is the author of The Myth of Rights and Our Democratic First Amendment.

Columns by Ashutosh Bhagwat
Why Elon Musk’s (and X’s) Lawsuit Against Companies Who Have Stopped Advertising on the X Platform Is Legally Weak

UC Davis Law professors Vikram David Amar and Ashutosh Bhagwat analyze the antitrust lawsuit filed by X Corp. (formerly Twitter) against the World Federation of Advertisers and other corporations, examining potential legal barriers to the suit under antitrust law and the First Amendment. Professors Amar and Bhagwat argue that X’s lawsuit faces significant challenges, primarily because the alleged boycott likely falls under First Amendment protection similar to that granted in NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware, and because forcing advertisers to advertise on X would constitute compelled speech, which is generally prohibited under recent Supreme Court precedents.