Fanfan: Freedom of Speech, That Battle That Never Ends: From Socrates to Social Media

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 […]

Law and Disorder Radio: The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom

The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom Today, anyone who cares about freedom of expression needs to face a stark truth: the right to speak freely is under siege. Once celebrated as a cornerstone of democratic societies, free expression is now met with growing suspicion and retaliation across […]

ABC (Spain): Fear of Elites and Hate Speech

By Jesús García Calero We live in a volatile time and it has become fashionable to organize summits against hatred. Democracies live on the defensive, powerless to safeguard their principles, with the public sphere crossed by the polarization and the arrival of a world without rules, where the … autocrats camp, and in which the […]

20 Minutos: Freedom of Speech, For What?

By Miguel Angel Aguilar The phrase “Freedom for what?” It was Lenin’s response to Fernando de los Ríos in 1920, when the Spanish socialist asked about freedom of the press and expression in Soviet Russia. This dialogue is narrated in the book My Journey to Soviet Russia. Now Lenin’s question that warned the socialist Fernando […]

The Tennessean: Arrest of Nashville Journalist by ICE Fuels First Amendment Concerns

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 […]

GNET: AI-led Content Moderation Tools: Are They The Answer To Combatting Online Extremism in Canada?

By Arunita Das and Cole Hennig | Global Network on Extremism & Technology How can we incentivise social media companies to implement AI tools for content moderation? With routine auditing and updating, we can continue to build precise AI-led tools to complement content moderation that targets extremism. The next challenge, however, is to encourage social […]

The Guardian: The World Wants to Ban Children from Social Media, But There Will Be Grave Consequences for Us All

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 […]

Medill On The Hill: As Section 230 Turns 30, AI Emerges As New Fault Line in Online Speech Debate

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 […]

New York Times: Judge Axes Exxon’s Defamation Suit Against Environmentalists

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. [ . . . […]

Deutsche Welle: US and EU Battle over Online Censorship

By Matt Pearson Recent revelations from news agency Reuters that the US is “developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including hate speech and terrorist propaganda,” as a method to counter what it sees as excessive censorship in other parts of the world […]