By Jacob Mchangama 2024 is a pivotal year for the future of global democracy, as some two billion—about half the adult population of the globe—will have the chance to vote. Even though more people will cast a ballot in 2024 than any previous year, the prevailing mood seems more fearful than celebratory. In the words of […]
By Jacob Mchangama Should J.K. Rowling face criminal charges for misgendering someone on social media? In March, transgender British TV personality India Willoughby reported the “Harry Potter” author to the police for posting that “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.” Willoughby was about a month […]
We are glad to see that Vanderbilt is reevaluating its relationship with the media in light of recent events. We also recognize that Vanderbilt is a private university with more latitude in setting its policies regarding privacy and access to private property. However, the university’s strong commitment to promoting free speech and open dialogue must […]
By Martin O’Reilly The government of the Republic of Ireland is currently proposing a new hate speech law, as part of the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill, which would update the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989. It is argued the existing law, particularly on account of the presence of social media, […]
“Even open democracies have implemented restrictive measures,” finds a global report. By J.D. Tuccille [ . . . ] If you think free speech is under attack in the United States—and it is—you should see its besieged status in the rest of the world. Open contempt for unrestricted debate prevails in even many supposedly “free” […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nashville, Tenn., March 26, 2024 — The Future of Free Speech, a nonpartisan think tank located at Vanderbilt University, has responded to the arrest of a Nashville Scene reporter covering protests today on Vanderbilt’s campus. Jacob Mchangama, the organization’s Executive Director, issued the following statement: “We do not condone the use of […]
By Jacob Mchangama 2023 was a disastrous year for free speech in liberal democracies. Unfortunately, 2024 only promises to deepen the free speech recession that has been sweeping open societies for years. On October 7th 2023, Hamas operatives carried out the deadliest single attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Some 1,200 people were killed including […]
By Elizabeth Amato Reviewed: Liar in a Crowded Theater by Jeff Kosseff How can we defend free speech to those who show little interest in preserving an unfettered “marketplace of ideas”? In March 2020, Waylon Bailey posted on Facebook a joke about zombies, and how his local sheriff’s office in Forest Hill, Louisiana had orders […]
In Semafor’s new breaking news feed “Signals,” Diego Mendoza cites a Tech Policy Press article by Joan Barata and Jordi Calvet-Bademunt: Content moderation laws seen as threatening freedom of speech Sources: Politico, American Principles Project, Tech Policy Press Moves by the United States and the EU to tighten regulations around who can access perceived harmful […]
At WGCU Radio in Southwest Florida, Mike Kiniry recently interviewed Jacob Mchangama about current threats to free speech and his book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media. ___ After the United States Constitution was ratified, Congress adopted ten amendments which were then ratified by three-fourths of the states, and these ten amendments […]