WESTERNERS TEND to regard freedom of speech as a universal good. However, a forthcoming report by Justitia, a Danish think-tank, demonstrates that public support for freedom of expression varies widely among countries, just as legal restraints on speech do. In many countries, particularly authoritarian regimes, people say they want fewer controls. But perhaps surprisingly, in […]
On the 15th March 2021, the Vatican issued a statement (approved by the Pope) which notes that the Catholic church would not bless same-sex unions, referring to them as “sinful” and underlining that God “does not and cannot bless sin.” This statement gives food for thought (for a lot of different things) but also for the issue of […]
Raghav Mendiratta is a lawyer and a Legal Fellow at the Future of Free Speech project (Justitia and Columbia University). @raghav_mendirat As per the recently released Freedom House Freedom Report, India has now been demoted to ‘Partly Free’ from the ‘Free’ category. Civil liberties and free expression have seen a slow but steady breakdown in India over the last […]
Social media platforms have become indispensable channels for public debate, and yet they are now rarely seen as an out-and-out benefit to democracy. Rather, they are more likely to be seen as transmitting fake news, conspiracy theories and hate. Fears are also growing that private tech companies are exercising too much power over – and […]
International Journal for the Semiotics of Law Guest Editors: Jacob Mchangama, Executive Director, Justitia (Denmark), Executive Director of the Future of Free Speech. Natalie Alkiviadou, Senior Research Fellow, Justitia (Denmark) & The Future of Free Speech Scope of our Special Issue: Opinions, facts, truth, and impossibility are continuously being expressed through languages and other semiotic […]
Once democratic freedoms are snatched away, can they be clawed back? David Kaye – Professor of law, University of California, Irvine; former UN Special Rapporteur on protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Jacob Mchangama – founder and executive director of the Danish freedom of speech organisation, Justifia; host Clear and Present Danger: a history of free […]
… Even as free-speech campaigners in rich democracies offer support to those fighting censorship in poorer, less free places, their own governments are providing the would-be censors with cover, even inspiration. Germany’s Network Enforcement Law (Netzdg), passed in 2017, is meant to protect readers from fake news and hate speech by requiring social-media platforms to […]
After seemingly endless announcements heralding the arrival of the Facebook Oversight Board (FOB) over the past 18 months, the board has, at last, released its first batch of decisions… “Lawfare recently published an analysis of how long it takes legal systems to come to decisions in hate speech cases: In many places months pass, if […]
REPORTS 2020 How the German Prototype for Online Censorship went Global – 2020 edition In October 2020, Justitia released the update of the 2019 report on the impact of the German Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) around the globe. The 2020 version found that a total of 11 new countries have followed the German template, whether […]
Donald Trump. The CEO of My Pillow, Inc. Some 70,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a Satan-worshipping cabal is secretly running the world and abusing children. The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. What do these all have in common? In recent weeks, they’ve all had their Twitter accounts suspended permanently or temporarily […]