Jeff Kosseff

Jeff Kosseff is the Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law and the Director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Jeff is a First Amendment lawyer and former journalist who was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and recipient of the George Polk Award for National Reporting.

He has written four books about free speech. The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom (with Jacob Mchangama) (Johns Hopkins University Press 2026) examines recent challenges to free expression worldwide and suggests solutions to reduce global censorship. Liar in a Crowded Theater: Freedom of Speech in a World of Misinformation (Johns Hopkins University Press 2023) explains and defends the First Amendment’s robust protections for false speech. The United States of Anonymous: How the First Amendment Shaped Online Speech (Cornell University Press 2022) explores the longstanding tradition of anonymous speech in the United States. The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet (Cornell University Press 2019) traces the history of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Kosseff also is the author of Cybersecurity Law (Wiley 2026), a textbook that is in its fourth edition. He has published more than 25 academic articles, in venues including the Iowa Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review, and Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

Before joining the University of Minnesota, Kosseff was an associate professor at the United States Naval Academy. He practiced First Amendment and cybersecurity law at Covington & Burling in Washington, DC, and clerked for the Hon. Milan D. Smith, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Hon. Leonie M. Brinkema of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Before becoming a lawyer, Kosseff was a journalist at The Oregonian.

Kosseff has a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center and a Master of Public Policy and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan.