Consultation response: The Practical Application of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to Activities of Technology Companies

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama in Consultation responses, Publications

Introduction Technology companies offer people around the world endless possibilities to share and impart information and express their opinions and beliefs quickly and without cost on social media platforms (SMPs). There are 4.62 billion users (58.4% of the global population) spending an average of 2h 27m per day on social media. This has revolutionized human […]

Working Paper: Who Cares about Free Speech

Posted on by The Future of Free Speech in Journal, Publications

Across the globe, governments are scrambling to regulate content on social media to limit various (contentious) categories such as disinformation and hate speech. In many cases, measures include so-called intermediary liability laws that oblige platforms to remove illegal or even “harmful” content once they are notified. In Europe, this trend was kick-started by Germany´s Network […]

Free Speech – A History from Socrates to Social Media

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama in Books, Free Speech History, Publications

Free Speech – A History from Socrates to Social Media Published by Basic Books Purchase a physical book, e-book and audiobook. If you want to follow reviews, interviews, articles, events and podcasts in connection with the release, keep an eye on www.jacobmchangama.com “The best history of free speech ever written and the best defense of free […]

Report: The Wild West? Illegal comments on Facebook

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama in Digital Regulation, Online Content Moderation, Publications, Reports

Read the report (Sorry, only in Danish) Summary of the report This report investigates the extent of illegal comments on selected Danish Facebook pages. On the basis of a representative sample, the report estimates that one out of 15,000 comments on Danish Facebook pages constitutes a hate crime. In particular, a representative segment of 63 […]

A Framework of First Reference – Decoding a Human Rights Approach to content moderation on social media

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama, Natalie Alkiviadou and Raghav Mendiratta in Digital Regulation, Online Content Moderation, Publications, Reports

A Framework of First Reference – Decoding a Human Rights Approach to content moderation on social media SUMMARY 4.66 billion people have Internet access, and 4.20 billion are active social media users. Despite the unprecedented scale and ease with which information and opinions are shared globally, Internet freedom is seen more and more as both […]

Human Rights Law Review: Hate Speech and the European Court of Human Rights: Whatever Happened to the Right to Offend, Shock or Disturb?

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama and Natalie Alkiviadou in Journal, Publications

Abstract In Handyside v. The United Kingdom, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) held that the right to freedom of expression, as provided for in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects not only expressions that are favorably received but also those that ‘offend, shock or disturb’. 1 Yet, the Court has since developed […]

Who Cares about Free Speech? – Findings From a Global Survey of Free Speech

Posted on by Svend-Erik Skaaning and Suthan Krishnarajan in Culture, Global Free Speech, Publications, Reports

For immediate release: A new survey reveals that most people and nations strongly support free speech in principle but have reservations in practice. A global survey “Who Cares about Free Speech?” has been conducted by YouGov for The Future of Free Speech, which asks citizens in 33 countries questions about their attitude towards free speech […]

Call for papers: Hate Speech vs. Free Speech

Posted on by Jacob Mchangama and Natalie Alkiviadou in Journal, News

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 […]