FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW REPORT: AI LAWS AND CHATBOTS FACE A GLOBAL FREE SPEECH TEST Study ranks countries’ AI policies and leading chatbots by how they handle lawful but controversial speech NASHVILLE, Tenn. — October 17, 2025 — Does your chatbot respond to prompts about controversial topics — or dodge them? That’s one of the […]
By Karla Adam and Kate Brady But behind Washington’s finger-pointing lies a difficult debate that is roiling many European countries: Have governments gone too far in curbing free expression when it comes to hate speech and intentional misinformation — including political propaganda and election meddling by foreign adversaries — or have they built more responsible […]
By Zachary Wolf Trump’s complete turnabout on speech is indicative of the contradictions and ironies in the bedrock principle of the American liberties in the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. While Trump came to office promising to restore free speech, particularly on college campuses and on social media, he’s now engaged in a […]
By Angele Latham, BrieAnna J. Frank, Taylor Seely, Stephany Matat, and Cate Charron NASHVILLE − There’s turmoil over the state of free speech in America. The issue took center stage as free speech advocates, lawyers and experts from around the world convened recently at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Conversations at the Global Free Speech Summit, […]
By Kevin M. Spivak One-sided censorship A decline in support for free speech and an increase in support for violence to suppress opposing views go hand in hand in authoritarian regimes. According to a recent report from Vanderbilt University’s the Future of Free Speech project, over the past decade, the number of countries limiting speech […]
By Jacob Mchangama Growing up in Denmark in the early 2000s, I rarely worried about my right to free speech. In this cozy haven of liberal values and secular democracy, speaking freely felt as natural as breathing. Few contested this state of affairs, least of all religious groups, whose influence had long since faded. That […]
By Ebenezer Obadare As a paradigm for the contemporary travails of free thought and freedom of worship, the ongoing saga of Yahaya Sharif-Aminu would be infuriating if it were not so depressing. The Nigerian musician, an adherent of the Tijaniyya Sufi Islamic order, has been running the legal gauntlet since he was first arrested in March 2020 for […]
By Katerina Nicolaou Natalie Alkiviadou, Senior Research Fellow at the Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University (USA), argues in her new book that the European Court of Human Rights has become too restrictive on freedom of expression, often backing governments in silencing speech that is merely offensive. Alkiviadou, an expert on free expression, hate speech […]
By Jacob Mchangama In 1742 David Hume boasted that: “Nothing is more apt to surprise a foreigner than the extreme liberty which we enjoy in this country of communicating whatever we please to the public”. Voltaire saw 18th-century Britain as a paradise of tolerance and freedom that stood in stark contrast to despotic France. Today […]
By Jacob Mchangama The assassination of Charlie Kirk was a tragic illustration of the public’s collapsing belief in free speech. His arguments weren’t met with rebuttals, but bullets — a shocking affront to America’s longstanding commitment to civil discourse. For a brief moment, it seemed Americans of all political stripes might unite in denouncing the […]