Fragile Inheritance: How Free Speech Was Won and Could Be Lost

By Joel J. Miller Fragile Inheritance: How Free Speech Was Won and Could Be Lost by Joel J Miller A Conversation with Jacob Mchangama on the Long History—and Uncertain Future—of Our Most Essential Liberty Read on Substack In America today, you can say almost anything—until you do. From college campuses to social media feeds, company […]

Jacob Mchangama on Conversations with Peter Boghossian

In this episode, host Peter Boghossian speaks with Jacob Mchangama, founder of The Future of Free Speech, research professor at Vanderbilt, and Senior Fellow at FIRE. While they’re both staunch free speech advocates, they debated its best “branding.” Peter argued for framing free speech less as a moral absolute—how Peter once described it as cognitive […]

The Brendan O’Neill Show: The Free Speech Recession

Free speech is under assault from all political sides in the West. In the US, the Trump administration is arresting and revoking the visas of foreign students and campus activists, seemingly for their views on Gaza. In Europe, hate-speech laws are enforced with ever increasing vigour by woke technocrats. Even blasphemy laws are making a […]

So To Speak Podcast: Is There A Global Free Speech Recession?

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

Free Speech Union Podcast: Who In The World Supports Free Speech? with Jacob Mchangama

Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech, a research professor at Vanderbilt University, and a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). A valued friend of the FSU, he joins Nick in this episode to discuss his recent global survey on the state of […]

The Good Fight Podcast: Jacob Mchangama on Free Speech

Host Yascha Mounk and Jacob Mchangama explore the different approaches—and proliferating threats—to free expression. Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech, a research professor at Vanderbilt University, and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). His book Free Speech: A History From Socrates to […]

CBS News: U.S. Support for Free Speech Drops by 3 Percentage Points, Survey Finds

A new survey released by the nonpartisan think tank Future of Free Speech found a 3-percentage-point drop in support for free speech in the U.S., which puts America’s rank at number 9 out of the 33 countries surveyed. The survey tracks global attitudes toward allowing controversial speech, criticism of the government, media freedom, and an […]

Lawfare Daily Podcast: A World Without Caesars

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 […]

State of the Net 2025: The Frontiers For Free Speech In The Trump Era: The Content Moderator’s Dilemma

From the State of the Net Conference hosted by the Internet Education Foundation. Jacob Mchangama discusses the relationship between government, Big Tech content moderation, and free speech online—drawing on Europe’s regulatory approach to bring much-needed global context to the conversation.

Censorship in the Sciences: The Free Speech Recession and How to Reverse It

From Censorship in the Sciences: Interdisciplinary Perspectives conference at the University of Southern California, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Jacob Mchangama discusses The Free Speech Recession and How to Reverse It: 5 Lessons from History.