Opinio Juris: Freedom of Expression and Its Slow Demise: The Case of Online Hate Speech (and Its Moderation/Regulation)

Dr. Natalie Alkiviadou is a Senior Research Fellow at Justitia (Denmark) working on the Future of Free Speech Project Four point two billion people are active social media users. This has given voice to previously marginalized groups. At the same time, however, extremism, hatred and abuse have become part and parcel of this reality. This has led to enhanced pressure on […]

El Pitazo: ¿Por qué está en declive la libertad de expresión en el mundo y en Venezuela?

Read our op-ed in venezuealian El Pitazo.  English tranlation: Is Venezuela the most pro free speech country in the world? From looking at international rankings of political freedom and press freedom, one would not think so. The country is ranked “Not Free” by the organization Freedom House (an abysmal 14 points out of 100), and […]

Lawfare: Time To End India’s War on Sedition

What do a 22-year-old climate activist, a journalist reporting on a gang rape case and a politician supporting a farmers’ protest have in common? They have all recently been charged with sedition as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s wider crackdown on free speech targeting journalists, leaders of the opposition, protestors, students and even […]

Who Cares About Free Speech – Media Coverage

Economist – In some countries, people think they have too much freedom of speech Foreign Policy – People Want Free Speech—for Themselves Politico – BY THE NUMBERS — MEASURING SUPPORT FOR FREE SPEECH Bhaskar News (India) – दि इकॉनॉमिस्ट से विशेष अनुबंध के तहत:डेनमार्क के थिंक टैंक ‘जस्टीशिया’ की रिपोर्ट में दावा; केन्या, ट्यूनीशिया के लोग […]

Foreign Policy: People Want Free Speech—for Themselves

Who cares about free speech? Almost everyone, according to a new global survey commissioned by Justitia (of which I am the director). In fact, across populations in 33 countries, a whopping 94 percent think it’s important for people to be able to say what they want without censorship. Likewise, the rights of the media to report as they see […]

Human Rights Here: God “does not and cannot bless sin” – Hate Speech Laws: Quo Vadis?

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 […]

Opinio Juris: India’s IT Rules, 2021: Incompatible with the ICCPR and a Fatal Blow to Democratic Discourse

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 […]