The Future of Free Speech

1 week ago | futurefreespeech.org | Jacob Mchangama

In February, 50-year-old Hamit Coskun was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” to the Islamic faith after burning a Quran outside the Turkish consulate in London. A KC told the National Secular Society that the charges were “plainly defective”, while the NSS accused prosecutors of reintroducing a blasphemy law “by the back door”.

2 weeks ago | futurefreespeech.org | Jacob Mchangama

Social media platforms have redefined communication by shifting the role of content curation from traditional editorial gatekeepers to largely algorithmic systems that reward content based on engagement metrics. Scholars have argued that algorithms optimized for engagement inadvertently reward content that elicits strong emotions, exacerbating polarization and, in some instances, amplifying disinformation.

1 month ago | futurefreespeech.org | Jacob Mchangama

The U.S. has fallen from third to ninth place in the global ranking for support of free speech rights since 2021, according to a new study published by The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University. The annual study, titled “Who in the World Supports Free Speech?” surveyed over 52,000 people about their support for free speech policies in 33 countries in October 2024.

1 month ago | futurefreespeech.org | Jacob Mchangama

In 2022, Danish lawyer Jacob Mchangama (Copenhagen, 1978) published Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media (not yet translated into Spanish), an essay that traces the erratic and bloody struggle for freedom of expression in the East and West, from ancient Greece to social media. In both the book and his podcast , Mchangama explains why this “first freedom” is the cornerstone of democracy.

2 months ago | futurefreespeech.org | Jacob Mchangama

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s accusations of censorship have angered Europeans. Many Americans, however, believe he is right—even though the White House itself restricts free speech. [ . . . ]More free speech would benefit Europe, agrees Jacob Mchangama. “Europe sees free expression too much as a threat to democracy rather than as its most fundamental liberty,” says the Danish legal scholar, who leads the independent think tank The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University.