Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff are co-authors of The Future of Free Speech, a new book examining what they describe as a global “free speech recession.” In this episode, Mchangama and Kosseff talk with Nick Gillespie about why democracies are increasingly embracing speech restrictions once associated with authoritarian regimes, how fears about misinformation and child […]
“Once you start clamping down on speech, it will have serious collateral damage. And we’re starting to see that now.” — Jacob Mchangama The Jyllands-Posten editor who published those Mohammed cartoons in 2005 spent a decade under round-the-clock protection from Danish intelligence services. He’d commissioned artists to say it with their pens, but the mob […]
In the years leading up to the American Revolution, newspapers and pamphlets overflowed with essays signed “Publius,” “Brutus,” and “A Farmer.” Those arguments helped shape a nation, but the authors’ real names were nowhere to be found. Americans have long relied on anonymous speech to challenge the powerful, protect dissenters, and keep the focus on […]
Renée DiResta, Lawfare contributing editor and associate research professor at Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Lawfare senior editor and associate professor of law the University of Minnesota, spoke with Jacob Mchangama, research professor of political science at Vanderbilt University and founder of The Future of Free Speech, and Jacob Shapiro, […]
Former host Ash Kazaryan (Future of Free Speech) returns for a wide-ranging discussion about powerful algorithms, attacks on Section 230, and much, much more. Topics include: Ash: this is your life! In defense of tHe aLGoRitHm In defense of Section 230 Once more: Anderson v. TikTok is so bad Has information gotten too cheap? Why […]
If the people controlling AI are biased, the output will also be. Free speech scholar Jacob Mchangama makes the case for completely open-source AI. Free speech scholar Jacob Mchangama warns that AI’s growing role in search, email, and word processing means its hidden biases could shape freedom of thought itself. With his team at the […]
Trust & safety influencer Alice Hunsberger and The Future of Free Speech Senior Legal Fellow Ashkhen Kazaryan joined Mike Masnick to cover: As millions adopt Grok to fact-check, misinformation abounds (Al Jazeera) Analysis Of Grok’s Epstein Comments Show How This AI Chatbot Is Learning (Forbes) People With Body Dysmorphia Are Spiraling Out After Asking AI to Rate […]
On June 27th, the Supreme Court ruled in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton that Texas’s age-verification law did not violate the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. Justice Thomas wrote the Court’s opinion, holding that States had a right to protect children from obscenity, even if that meant incidentally burdening adults’ own access to that content. […]
Jacob Mchangama joins the So To Speak Podcast as host and guests travel from America to Europe, Russia, China, and more places to answer the question: Is there a global free speech recession? Host: Nico Perrino, FIRE Executive Vice President Guests: – Sarah McLaughlin: FIRE senior scholar, global expression – James Kirchick: FIRE senior fellow
Does the way a social media platform is built influence how users use it? This episode of the Lawfare Podcast features Glen Weyl, economist and author at Microsoft Research; Jacob Mchangama, Executive Director of the Future of Free Speech Project at Vanderbilt; and Ravi Iyer, Managing Director of the USC Marshall School Neely Center. Together with […]