Op-eds etc.
By Jordi Calvet-Bademunt With the U.S. midterms approaching, about 1 in 5 voters has asked AI chatbots about elections and politics, a recent survey found. But many voters may not know that governments around the world increasingly shape what chatbots can say. And because many tech companies apply the same policies worldwide, the answers American […]
By Natalie Alkiviadou Political discourse increasingly unfolds within digital environments structured by algorithmic recommendation systems, viral dissemination mechanisms, and engagement-driven visibility metrics. Platforms such as TikTok do not merely host political and social debates; they shape their circulation, amplification, and public impact. Further, the speed and scale of dissemination in algorithmically mediated environments exceed those […]
By Jacob Mchangama Earlier this month, Amnesty International asked Britain’s charity regulator to review the status of 117 organizations whose views on sex and abortion it dislikes. It received the public thrashing it deserved. But the threatened libel campaign now being bankrolled against it risks converting a victory for counter-speech into a cautionary tale—one in […]
By Natalie Alkiviadou On 8 July 2026, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on the Impact of the 1974 Turkish Invasion on Cypriot Women and Girls and the Crimes Committed by Turkish Forces and Consequences on Gender Equality. The Resolution acknowledges that Cypriot women’s experiences of violence during 1974 are “often being excluded from official historical, […]
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 Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou and Katia Pau Recent controversies in Bangkok, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom demonstrate that disputes surrounding artistic expression remain deeply embedded in contemporary political, religious, and social life. In Bangkok, criticism and public backlash emerged following the display of artworks considered offensive to religious and cultural sensibilities, triggering debates about the limits of artistic freedom […]
By Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff On March 4, 2022, two days after the European Union banned the Russian state media outlets Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik, Russia blocked access to Western media such as the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America. The Russian government declared this was “only the beginning of retaliatory measures in an […]
By Jacob Mchangama In 1977, the Danish film director Jens Jørgen Thorsen was turned away at Heathrow on the orders of Home Secretary Merlyn Rees, after a campaign by the Christian campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Thorsen was carrying the script for a long-planned film about the sex life of Jesus — a project that had already […]
By Jacob Mchangama and Jeff Kosseff This essay is adapted from The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2026) European democracies hold free and fair elections, ensure peaceful transfers of power, and maintain a vibrant media landscape. Their independent judiciaries hold governments accountable if they […]