The Future of Free Speech Launches at Vanderbilt University

Justitia, an independent and nonpartisan think tank based in Copenhagen, Denmark, has opened its first office in the U.S. at Vanderbilt University. A video message from Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier about the opening of Justitia’s first U.S. office at Vanderbilt and the expansion of the Future of Free Speech project.   The office at Vanderbilt will […]

ARTE TV: Social media: a danger to democracy?

Hosted by Nora Hamadi, this new magazine approaches Europe from a collaborative perspective. We will hear the analyses and testimonies of Europeans gathered during our collective brainstorming session. And to discuss this, we welcome Nina Gorenc, a language professor at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and a researcher in political rhetoric. She denounces the democratic […]

Foreign Policy: U.S. Conservatives Are Threatening Global Free Speech

New Foreign Policy piece by Jacob Mchangama, this time with Nadine Strossen on Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who is expected by many to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks or months. DeSantis’s call to make it easier to sue the media for `false information’” is part of a larger Republican revolt against […]

AFP: Sexting chatbot ban points to looming battle over AI rules

From the AFP article “Sexting chatbot ban points to looming battle over AI rules”: Jacob Mchangama, author of “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media”, disagrees. “Even if bots don’t have free speech rights, we must be careful about unfettered access for governments to suppress even synthetic speech,” he said. Mchangama is among […]

Reason: Privileging Blasphemy Norms Over Open Inquiry Plays Into the Hands of Religious Fundamentalists

Hamline University has received considerable backlash for not renewing the employment of a scholar who showed an allegedly “Islamophobic” image of the Prophet Muhammad during an art history class. The university did so, even though the adjunct professor gave ample warnings before and during the class that the image would be shown. According to an […]

The Future of Free Speech Impact

Free speech is a crucial component of a democratic society, allowing individuals to express their thoughts and opinions without fear of reprisal. However, around the world, free speech is frequently under attack, with individuals and groups facing censorship and other barriers to their ability to speak out. Our project aims to address this problem by […]

Los Angeles Times: Don’t be too tempted by Europe’s plan to fix social media

By Jacob Mchangama For many Americans, social media has become a monster. Platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are seen as festering hotbeds of hate and misinformation that threaten the very foundations of American democracy and civility. Calls for regulation have intensified, with some prominent voices looking across the pond for a model to regulate […]