Commentary

Op-eds, blog posts, presentations, etc. on the future of free speech.

The Conversation: AI Chatbots Refuse to Produce ‘Controversial’ Output − Why That’s A Free Speech Problem

04.18.2024

Tech Policy Press: Digital Services Act Roundup: February – March 2024

04.10.2024

Naples Daily News: Florida Abandons Free Speech Principles to Combat DEI Excesses

04.07.2024

Persuasion: How to Fight Misinformation Without Censorship

04.05.2024

WSJ: J.K. Rowling Is Right to Protest Hate-Speech Laws

04.05.2024

Schweizer Monat: Censorship Doesn’t Prevent Hatred

03.19.2024

amaBhungane: There is a Global Free Speech Recession and South Africa is not immune

03.13.2024

Lawfare: Have Trouble Understanding Section 230? Don’t Worry. So Does the Supreme Court.

03.08.2024

TIME: The Future of Censorship Is AI-Generated

02.26.2024

Tech Policy Press: Digital Services Act Roundup – July 2023 – January 2024

02.13.2024

Unherd: Beware the WEF’s new misinformation panic

01.15.2024

NYT: Social Media Is a Mess. Government Meddling Would Only Make It Worse.

12.14.2023

Foreign Policy: Evidence Is Growing That Free Speech Is Declining

12.03.2023

Daily Beast: Anti-Blasphemy Laws Are Great for Tyrants, but Terrible for Dissidents

11.13.2023

Persuasion: Free Speech Defenders Must Be Consistent

11.01.2023

DSA Obersvatory: The Out-of-court Settlement Mechanism under the DSA – Questions and Doubts

10.26.2023

Reason: Denmark May Ban Burning the Quran

09.04.2023

TIME: Denmark and Sweden’s Commitment to Free Speech Is Wilting in the Face of Quran Burnings

08.10.2023

Wired: The Internet Speech Case That the Supreme Court Can’t Dodge

08.09.2023

Unherd: Sweden and Denmark bow to pressure over Quran book burnings

08.02.2023

Foreign Policy: Free Speech Social Media Doesn’t Exist

07.14.2023

Time: How to Kill Online Free Speech

05.30.2023

Tech Policy Press: Regulating Online Platforms Beyond the Marco Civil in Brazil – The Controversial “Fake News Bill”

05.23.2023

Opnio Juris: Hate Speech by Proxy – Sanchez v France and the Dwindling Protection of Freedom of Expression

05.16.2023

The Daily Beast: The First Amendment Is the Greatest Defense for the Powerless and Marginalized

04.30.2023

New York Times: What Protects Fox News Also Protects Our Democracy

04.14.2023

Wired: It’s Time to Stop Arresting People for Trolling the Government

04.12.2023

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

03.08.2023

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

01.16.2023

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

12.23.2022

TIME: What Elon Musk Gets Wrong About Free Speech

12.06.2022

Folha de S. Paulo:Entrada do Judiciário no debate político pode ser tiro pela culatra, diz ativista da liberdade de expressão

10.27.2022

The Daily Beast: U.K.’s Crackdown on Anti-Royal Protests Makes U.S. Free Speech Look Good

09.14.2022

TIME: In A War of Ideas, Banning Russian Propaganda Does More Harm Than Good

08.20.2022

StrasbourgObserver: A joke-telling lawyer: The case of Simic v. Bosnia and Herzegovina

08.18.2022

New York Daily News: The larger legacy of Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’

08.15.2022

Taz: Gut gemeinte Zensur

07.16.2022

Human Rights Here: Banning Russia Today and Sputnik in Europe is a bad idea

07.11.2022

Cato Institute: What We Can Learn from the History of Free Speech

06.27.2022

American Council of Trustees and Alumni – Jacob Mchangama: “A Global Free Speech Recession”

06.27.2022

Persuasion: Banning Hate Speech Won’t End Extremist Violence

06.07.2022

PBS The Open Mind: March of the Autocracies

05.24.2022

Spectator Australia: Don’t mention the swastika

05.19.2022

NZZ Magazine: Auf Twitter soll bald wieder totale Meinungsfreiheit herrschen. Ist das gut?

05.02.2022

The Independent: What will Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter mean for free speech?

04.28.2022

Foreign Policy: The Real Threat to Social Media Is Europe

04.26.2022

Azcentral: Why silencing speech, even hurtful speech, makes us more intolerant

04.20.2022

Forum on Information and Democracy Launches Working Group on Social Network Accountability Regimes

03.28.2022

Democratic recession or breaking point for the “bulwark of liberty”?

03.24.2022

Daily Beast: The Problem With Banning Russian Disinformation

03.16.2022

The Globe and Mail: Joe Rogan, Spotify and the dangers imposed by private threats to free speech

02.11.2022

Foreing Affairs: The War on Free Speech – Censorship’s Global Rise

02.09.2022

Wall Street Journal: Will Banning Hate Speech Make Europe Safer?

02.07.2022

Unherd: Banning RT is a Soviet — not western — tactic

02.04.2022

Persuasion: A Race to the Bottom on Internet Censorship

12.21.2021

OpnioJuris: Hate Speech by Proxy – Sanchez v France and the Dwindling Protection of Freedom of Expression

12.15.2021

Persuasion: Americans, Don’t Envy European Speech Codes!

10.07.2021

a16z: 21 Experts on the Future of Expertise

09.09.2021

Raseef22: حرية التعبير في العالم العربي… إلى أين؟

08.27.2021

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

07.25.2021

Slate: Aussi surprenant que cela puisse paraître, la liberté d’expression est une notion fragile en France

07.19.2021

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

07.07.2021

Lawfare: Time To End India’s War on Sedition

06.26.2021

India Express: Supporting free speech, but not criticism of government

06.26.2021

Who Cares About Free Speech – Media Coverage

06.23.2021

Foreign Policy: People Want Free Speech—for Themselves

06.09.2021

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

05.31.2021

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

05.14.2021

The Future of Free Speech Project 2020: A Year in Review

02.01.2021

Lawfare: Rushing to Judgment – Examining Government Mandated Content Moderation

01.26.2021

Arc Digital: The Purge of Trumpism

01.22.2021

Foreign Policy: How to Judge Facebook’s New Judges

12.04.2020

ECHR BLOG: ‘Hate Speech’ Jurisprudence of the ECtHR through a Qualitative and Quantitative Lens

11.04.2020

Euractiv: The Digital Berlin Wall: How Germany built a prototype for online censorship

10.08.2020

Verfassungsblog: No Country for Dissent – Twitter’s anticipatory Takedown of Tweets in India

08.26.2020

Rightsblog: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill

08.21.2020

Verfassungsblog: In Search for an Antidote

07.09.2020

Spiked: Hate-speech laws are no friend of minorities

06.02.2020

Foreign Policy: Coronavirus Has Started a Censorship Pandemic

04.01.2020

The American Interest: Taiwan’s Disinformation Solution

02.06.2020

Foreign Policy: Germany’s Online Crackdowns Inspire the World’s Dictators

11.06.2019