Editor’s Note: This essay is adapted from the new book, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom by Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff (Johns Hopkins University Press). By Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff On October 7, 2023, Hamas operatives carried out the deadliest single attack on Jews since […]
Interviewer: Jillian York Jacob Mchangama is a Danish lawyer, human rights advocate, and public commentator. He is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech, a nonpartisan think tank located at Vanderbilt University. His new book with Jeff Kosseff, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential […]
By Mike Masnick We’ve been saying for years now that Jonathan Haidt’s crusade against social media and kids is a moral panic dressed up in academic robes, and that the evidence simply does not support the sweeping claims he’s been making. A new piece in the Wall Street Journal by Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff […]
From Socrates to social media, society has always worried about protecting the young. But the latest ruling about Meta and YouTube overlooks the upsides of free speech. By Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff In 399 BCE, Socrates was put on trial before a jury of some 500 of his fellow Athenians. The indictment accused him […]
By Marcelo Brito Originally published in 2022 with the title Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media, Jacob Mchangama’s work is presented as what his subtitle promises: a global history of freedom of expression that starts in classical Greece and flows into the digital ecosystem. Mchangama, Danish lawyer, founder of the Justitia Idea […]
By Angele Latham and Evan Mealins A judge will soon weigh whether to release Nashville news reporter Estefany Rodriguez from custody after her arrest by immigration authorities in early March drew nationwide attention. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement arrested Rodriguez, who works for local news outlet Nashville Noticias, during a March 4 traffic stop in South […]
By Taylor Lorenz Over the past year, more than two dozen countries around the world have proposed bans on social media use for vast swathes of their public. These laws, often proposed under the guise of “child safety”, are ushering in an era of mass surveillance and widespread censorship, contributing to what scholars [like Jacob […]
By Andre Hiroki [ . . . ] Panelists focused on whether AI-generated outputs should be considered speech under existing legal frameworks, and what that means for Section 230 liability. Miers argued that a blanket rule denying Section 230 protection to AI systems could have consequences beyond chatbots, potentially affecting long-standing online practices such as […]
By Karen Zraick A federal judge in Texas has dismissed Exxon Mobil’s bombshell defamation lawsuit against environmental groups that it had accused of trying to sabotage its recycling business in collusion with an Australian mining magnate. But the judge allowed a parallel case against California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, to proceed. [ . . . […]
By Ashkhen Kazaryan Rand Paul is furious. That’s because someone posted a video falsely accusing the Kentucky senator of taking money from Venezuela’s Maduro regime. Paul should know that the First Amendment sets a deliberately high bar for defamation of public officials like him. Under New York Times v. Sullivan, he must show not just […]