Reason: Privileging Blasphemy Norms Over Open Inquiry Plays Into the Hands of Religious Fundamentalists

Hamline University has received considerable backlash for not renewing the employment of a scholar who showed an allegedly “Islamophobic” image of the Prophet Muhammad during an art history class. The university did so, even though the adjunct professor gave ample warnings before and during the class that the image would be shown. According to an […]

Los Angeles Times: Don’t be too tempted by Europe’s plan to fix social media

By Jacob Mchangama For many Americans, social media has become a monster. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are seen as festering hotbeds of hate and misinformation that threaten the very foundations of American democracy and civility. Calls for regulation have intensified, with some prominent voices looking across the pond for a model to regulate […]

StrasbourgObserver: A joke-telling lawyer: The case of Simic v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

Introduction In May this year, the Fourth Section of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held unanimously that holding a lawyer in contempt of court for a ‘caustic’ and ‘sarcastic’ comments amounted to a violation of his Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) right to freedom of expression. Facts In […]

Human Rights Here: Banning Russia Today and Sputnik in Europe is a bad idea

By Raghav Mendiratta and Natalie Alkiviadou On March 1, 2022, Regulation 2022/350 of the Council of the European Union (EU) suspended broadcasting activities of Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in the EU until Russia ends the aggression against Ukraine and its media “cease to conduct propaganda actions” against the EU and its Member States. The Regulation (as well as the […]