By Caitlin Babcock On Monday night, the House of Representatives passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act on a bipartisan basis, 267-117. The sweeping children’s safety package combines text from over a dozen other bills. Its provisions, among others, include blocking platforms from using children’s personal data for targeted ads and requiring AI […]
By Jenna Monnin The FCC is reviewing whether “The View” qualifies for the equal-time exemption for its political interviews. News programs are exempt from federal law that requires equal time for political candidates’ viewpoints, and ABC says that its show meets the requirements as a “bona fide news interview program.” The comments, by and large, […]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 18, 2026 — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Future of Free Speech, joined by the ACLU, National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, has submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to reaffirm that The View qualifies as a bona fide news interview program under […]
By Philipp Fess Saxony’s Justice Minister Constanze Geiert is calling for an end to insulting politicians. She argues that protecting Chancellor Merz is hardly justifiable to the public. The law against “insulting a monarch” is once again under scrutiny. Telepolis had already reported on the visit of UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression Irene Khan in […]
By: Jacob Mchangama At this year’s Munich Security Conference, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed Europe’s “long tradition in freedom of speech.” Then she drew a redline. “We are very clear with digital sovereignty . . . that what is forbidden offline is forbidden online,” she added. Von der Leyen’s maxim would have […]
By Jacob Mchangama Irakli Miladze, a food courier in Tbilisi, spent long shifts dodging not only the weather, but also fines for using bus lanes. They were the same bus lanes that government officials sped down in their fancy vehicles with impunity. In late 2022, Miladze did what citizens in a modern democracy are supposed […]
By Rym Momtaz, ed. The battle over free speech has taken center stage since U.S. Vice President JD Vance accused Europe of censorship. From travel bans to social media regulation, especially around the Israel-Palestine conflict, are liberal democratic governments weaponizing free speech? [ . . . ] Natalie Alkiviadou Senior Research Fellow, The Future of […]
By Joan Barata [Editor’s note: this is a review of Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou’s new book, Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights (Routledge 2025)]. The notion of hate speech has always been a problematic legal artifact in international human rights law. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) provides a […]
By Angele Latham A free speech legal group in Nashville has pushed back on a recent Federal Communications Commission inquiry into television programming involving “gender identity” issues, calling the move constitutionally concerning. The Future of Free Speech, an international free speech advocacy think tank based in Nashville, filed comments responding to a recent FCC inquiry that debates whether current […]
By Joe Lancaster The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering new content ratings for TV shows that depict or discuss gender identity. Doing so would be well outside the FCC’s legal authority, and some free speech organizations warn that such a request could constitute a violation of the First Amendment. At the direction of the Telecommunications […]