DSA Obersvatory: The Out-of-court Settlement Mechanism under the DSA – Questions and Doubts

 Joan Barata Senior Legal Fellow, Future of Free Speech (Justitia) Introduction The Digital Services Act (DSA) constitutes the new legal horizontal framework in the EU regarding the provision of online services. It formally came into force on 16 November 2022. However, a significant number of rules and obligations included in this Regulation will become enforceable […]

Reason: Denmark May Ban Burning the Quran

In 2017, then–Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen proclaimed: “I’m proud and happy that we live in a country where we have abolished the blasphemy provision and where you’re allowed to be critical—even in satire and cartoons—of religious symbols.” Last week, however, Rasmussen, who is now the minister of foreign affairs, did an about-face. The Quran […]

TIME: Denmark and Sweden’s Commitment to Free Speech Is Wilting in the Face of Quran Burnings

In TIME, Jacob Mchangama explains how Denmark and Sweden’s plans to criminalize Quran burnings forebode a future in which democratic states willingly yield their fundamental principles to religious dogmatism. “On the one hand, there are good reasons to be critical of book burnings. It is a poor substitute for reasoned debate and will forever be […]

Unherd: Sweden and Denmark bow to pressure over Quran book burnings

In 1766, Sweden enacted its landmark Press Freedom Act, becoming the first country in the world to implement such protections. In 1770, Denmark outpaced this achievement by formally abolishing all forms of censorship. Despite intermittent setbacks, these pioneering acts cultivated a vibrant culture of free expression. The Scandinavian countries evolved into global symbols of democracy, freedom, […]

Tech Policy Press: Regulating Online Platforms Beyond the Marco Civil in Brazil – The Controversial “Fake News Bill”

Joan Barata is a Senior Fellow at Justitia’s Future Free Speech project, and is also a Fellow of the Program on Platform Regulation at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center. Introduction Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has referred a proposed law to the Congress. Colloquially referred to as the “Fake News Bill,” the draft […]

Opnio Juris: Hate Speech by Proxy – Sanchez v France and the Dwindling Protection of Freedom of Expression

The Future of Free Speechs Natalie Alkiviadou in Opinio Juris The case of Sanchez v France is seen as a worrying development in the context of freedom of expression, as it involves the criminal conviction of an individual for failing to delete comments made by others on his Facebook post that incited hatred or violence […]

AEI: In Search of Principles to Govern Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Web Censorship

The article discusses the challenges of governing free speech, hate speech, and web censorship in the age of the internet, and cites the views  Jacob Mchangama. Mchangama’s proposals for balancing the need to protect free expression with the harms caused by hate speech and misinformation are highlighted, and the article suggests that his principles could […]

Foreign Policy: U.S. Conservatives Are Threatening Global Free Speech

New Foreign Policy piece by Jacob Mchangama, this time with Nadine Strossen on Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is expected by many to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks or months. DeSantis’s call to make it easier to sue the media for `false information’” is part of a larger Republican revolt against […]