“Digital sovereignty” proponents argue that, to protect democracy, nations must control their online spheres. But would Viktor Orbán have lost in Hungary if the Internet were under government control? @mchangama.bsky.social at @aodemocracies.bsky.social's 2026 Copenhagen Democracy Summit:

In this @reason.com interview on our new book, Jeff Kosseff and I discuss: — EU hate speech laws — Jawboning and social media censorship — Solutions to the global free speech recession Huge thanks to @nickgillespie.bsky.social for hosting this great conversation. youtu.be/RbpP4mwGEN0?...

📅 ATTN ATLANTA FOLKS: Next week, I will join FEE’s Katrina Gulliver for an enlightening conversation about my new book (co-authored with @jkosseff.bsky.social) If you’re in the Metro Atlanta area, come and join me on May 6! Registration link below ⬇️

Recently, @kenwhite.bsky.social wrote that “free speech culture” is being invoked as a rhetorical shield for the powerful and a pretext for state censorship. I disagree. Hypocrisy and grifting don’t discredit the idea that underpins our strong legal protections for free speech.

Free expression is facing mounting pressure worldwide. In the most productive year in our history, your support made critical, independent work possible. But the challenges are only accelerating—and your support matters now more than ever.

Free speech isn't protected by laws alone. At @futurefreespeech.org, our vision is to further a culture that reinforces it. At our #FreeSpeechSummit2025, @glukianoff explains why the instinct to cancel is bad for democracy.

ICYM our #FreeSpeechSummit2025, here’s a standout session. In a live recording of Advisory Opinions, @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social and Sarah Isgur dig into some of the biggest First Amendment battles unfolding in America. youtu.be/aEDJyyc8LVY?...

Democracy cannot function without open discourse. At #TheFreeSpeechSummit2025, John Wood Jr., @chatterton.bsky.social, and Michael Moynihan explored how we must restore our faith in civil dialogue, especially when we disagree.

Deeply honored to take part in Atlas Network's Smart Bets Pitch Competition. A huge thank you to the Atlas team for giving us the opportunity to share our project.

The page proofs for my forthcoming book with @jkosseff.bsky.social have arrived! Here’s a sneak peek at the contents:

The efforts to shed light on just how bad things have gotten in Europe are gaining momentum. Another mainstream U.S. news outlet (Fareed Zakaria's GPS at @cnn.com) details the free speech recession we have been warning about for years.

“When free-speech restrictions are deemed legitimate only if imposed by the ‘right’ people against the ‘wrong’ ones, then free speech indeed becomes an artificial concept,” writes @mchangama.bsky.social.

This is the type of proposal that many people would condemn as "authoritarian" if proposed by Trump, but praise as a "defense of democracy" when proposed by EU member states.

In a review of “Our Dear Friends in Moscow” by Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov and “Ideology and Meaning-Making Under the Putin Regime” by Marlene Laruelle, Joshua Yaffa discusses the forces that have shaped the Putin era.

In @foreignaffairs.com, I review Fara Dabhoiwala’s "What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea"—a book that treats the First Amendment as chiefly benefiting “propertied white men” and Europe's “balanced” approach as virtuous.

I’m not saying that free speech prevailed in this case because I happen to be in the UK this week. But I’m also not NOT saying it. In all seriousness, this is a very welcome outcome in a country struggling with a declining commitment to free expression.

From abolitionists jailed for spreading “dangerous ideas” to civil rights leaders who made free speech their shield—America’s most profound moral progress has depended on protecting speech we hate. That’s the lesson we risk forgetting as we approach the U.S.’s 250th anniversary.

Read @zbyronwolf.bsky.social's full analysis of the state of free speech in the U.S., with more insights from @mchangama.bsky.social about the legacy of the civil rights movement and crackdowns on free expression in Europe. www.cnn.com/2025/10/11/p...

"Mchangama, on the other hand, hopes the American left will look at the Trump administration today and dial back on efforts to control speech. "'Power changes hands,' @mchangama.bsky.social said."

At a time when free expression is under strain, our #FreeSpeechSummit2025 offered space for serious, principled debate about the First Amendment and the culture that sustains it. Honored to see this crucial discussion in the spotlight from @usatoday.com:

Thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Yascha Mounk, @noupside.bsky.social, and @jonrauch.bsky.social. Some additional thoughts below ⏬

This weekend in Nashville, voices from every corner of the world came together around a simple truth: Free expression is still the foundation of every free and flourishing society. #FreeSpeechSummit2025 reminded us what happens when courage meets open dialogue.

Had a fascinating conversation with @noupside.bsky.social, Yascha Mounk, and @jonrauch.bsky.social in a live recording of The Good Fight podcast from Persuasion.

Kicking off #FreeSpeechSummit2025 by setting the stage and introducing @vanderbilt.edu Chancellor Daniel Diermeier.

20 years ago, 12 cartoons shook the world. They sparked riots, terror attacks, and a lasting question: Do democracies still have the courage to defend free speech when it offends? A short thread on why this moment still matters 🧵

No one should ever be subjected to violence for sharing their opinion, no matter how unpopular. In a free and pluralistic society, we must accept that words are not violence, and we must condemn anyone who resorts to physical harm in response to speech they don’t like.

Congrats to Vanderbilt, home of @futurefreespeech.org, for its climb to 7th in @thefireorg.bsky.social College Free Speech Rankings!

From Frederick Douglass to Thurgood Marshall, history shows that the values of free speech and equality are friends, not foes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4HT...

If free speech only protects the views we like, it isn’t free speech. In 1649, radicals warned UK Parliament that censorship was “dangerous to the liberties of the people.” Yet in Britain today, people are arrested for tweets, protests, and even satire.

Is banning flag burning just a secular blasphemy law? Trump’s EO treats the flag the way old laws treated religion: as a sacred symbol beyond insult. Different symbols, same instinct—punish irreverence to enforce orthodoxy.

On one side, you have a J.D. Vance who disagrees with the SCOTUS opinion that flag burning is protected political expression. On the other, you have a Vance who (rightly) scoffs at a Swedish judge who argued there should be limits on free expression when it comes to burning religious texts.

Despite the Trump admin's twisted rationale, SCOTUS has twice ruled that burning the flag 🇺🇸 in protest is protected political expression. Abandon that principle, and the U.S. trades its place as a free society for the habits of regimes that jail dissenters. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Just because the U.S. is hypocritical, it doesn’t mean that Europe’s free speech problems aren’t real—or worsening, as @conor64.bsky.social chronicles in his latest piece at @theatlantic.com (in which I’m also quoted). Principled free speech advocates should be sounding the alarm.

It’s not every day a government official invites you to write a lead essay criticizing speech restrictions. In this piece for the UK’s Commission for Countering Extremism, I argue that when democracies silence dissent, they don’t create safety—they create a pressure cooker.

Learn concrete strategies to push back against censorship and defend free expression during our invite-only Global Free Speech Summit with Vanderbilt University. WHEN: Oct. 3 and 4 | WHERE: Nashville, TN Apply here: https://globalfreespeechsummit.com/connect/

When a leading press-freedom group praises a government for censoring speech, it’s time to be concerned about the future of free speech.

Imagine if Chief Justice Roberts gave Justice Alito unchecked power to investigate “fake news,” seize private messages, and shut down social media platforms with no oversight or limits. In the U.S., it would be unthinkable. 🇧🇷 In Brazil, it's a reality.

Governments are increasingly invoking “incitement” and “hate speech” as catch-all justifications to punish political opposition, satire, and minority viewpoints. This week’s Free Flow highlights how global authorities are stretching these terms to silence dissent.🧵

This capitulation is a slap in the face to media outlets, journalists, and dissidents in authoritarian states. Unlike Paramount, independent media and reporters operating in authoritarian regimes cannot rely on unlimited funds, an army of lawyers AND the robust protection of the First Amendment.

The past decade has seen elite panic around disinformation reach new heights. The consequences for free expression have been devastating. In the latest Free Flow, we tracked just one week’s worth of new efforts to criminalize “fake news” and “propaganda.” 🧵

I really enjoyed this working paper by Claudia Williamson Kramer on the positive relationship between free speech, racial tolerance, and the protection of minority rights. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

For years, Germany has sought to curb extremism by policing speech. But in the 2025 federal election, the far-right AfD party won the 2nd highest number of votes. Does the rise in German political extremism go hand-in-hand with its crackdown on free speech? MEGA THREAD 🧵

🚨 The First Amendment bars the government from punishing speech based on specific viewpoints. For decades, it has thwarted officials of all stripes from throttling dissent. The wisdom of this ‘bedrock principle’ has only been reinforced during Trump 2.0. THREAD 👇

Our recent survey shows how people around the world overwhelmingly favor limiting the generation of controversial AI content. But an intriguing tension emerges: people broadly support regulating generative AI, but they also distrust the very politicians they want to regulate it.

Free speech isn’t a partisan prop. You can’t denounce Europe for punishing Quran burners while demanding prison for Americans who burn the flag. That’s not defending expression—it’s tribal hypocrisy.

🇧🇷 Free Speech is coming to Brazil! My book Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media will be published in Portuguese for the first time on July 17—with a new preface by journalist, author, and free expression advocate Madeline Lacsko.

Support for allowing controversial speech has plummeted among young Americans. 71% supported the right to insult the US flag in 2021. By 2024, only 43% did, a 28-point drop. A political science professor explains the trend: buff.ly/9sKPdB9 @mchangama.bsky.social @vanderbilt.edu #polisky

Will AI supercharge free expression—or create more powerful tools for suppression? I explored the fundamental difference between #CreativeAI vs. #InstrusiveAI with Melissa Mahtani at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. #CDS2025 📷: @aodemocracies.bsky.social

What happens when the government can ban expression it claims is "intended to arouse" or it considers as lacking "serious value"? At @msnbc.com, @mchangama.bsky.social and @ashkhen.bsky.social break down a new obscenity bill that has dangerous implications for free speech.

Why are young Americans — the generation that grew up online — turning against free speech? At @theconversation.com, I dig into our recent @futurefreespeech.org survey and other data to unpack why young people are much less likely to support controversial speech than 4 years ago.