Washington Post Editoral: These universities are pushing back on censorious students. Finally.

A similar defense is being waged at private institutions. At Harvard University, a group of more than 50 faculty members last month established the Council on Academic Freedom, a group “devoted to free inquiry, intellectual diversity, and civil discourse.” Vanderbilt University, likewise, announced last month that it would become the U.S. foothold for the Future of Free […]

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Jacob Mchangama & Flemming Rose on threats to Free Speech

This webinar is the first in an exciting new series, The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Dialogues, where Ayaan and her expert guests will discuss how vital the principle of free speech is and how to defend it from the many threats it faces today. This webinar features Ayaan in conversation with the Danish author Jacob Mchangama […]

AEI: In Search of Principles to Govern Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Web Censorship

The article discusses the challenges of governing free speech, hate speech, and web censorship in the age of the internet, and cites the views  Jacob Mchangama. Mchangama’s proposals for balancing the need to protect free expression with the harms caused by hate speech and misinformation are highlighted, and the article suggests that his principles could […]

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 […]

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 […]

WBUR: The history of the price of free speech

Author Salman Rushdie spent years hiding because Iran’s religious leaders wanted him dead for a book they didn’t like. Rushdie remained a fierce defender of free speech. In 2015, when gunmen killed 12 at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, he spoke out. WBUR is a nonprofit news organization. Our coverage relies on your financial support. If […]

The British Library: Freedom of the Press – The First Principle of News

Freedom of speech is hailed as the ‘first freedom’, the bedrock of democracy, but it is subject to erosion in times of upheaval. The British Library holds the earliest plea for free speech, Milton’s Areopagitica, which argues against censorship and in favour of ‘freedom to choose, for reason is but choosing’. But according to Freedom […]