Free speech has long been a cornerstone of democratic society. But today, its principles face increasing pressure.

Around the world, governments are expanding speech restrictions in the name of combating misinformation, hate speech, and extremism, while new technologies make it easier to monitor and control public discourse.

Many free speech advocates warn that these efforts risk eroding democracy itself.

Joining the show to discuss this "global free speech recession" is Jacob Mchangama, a senior fellow at FIRE and the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University, and Jeff Kosseff, a senior fellow at The Future of Free Speech. Their new book is "The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential Freedom."

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:07 Why write this book?

04:40 Where free speech stands in America today

05:53 What is a "global free speech recession"?

11:22 Free speech's high point and what changed

18:56 Election misinformation, disinformation, and the role of AI

34:40 The EU's Digital Services Act and the UK's Online Safety Act

40:00 Are democracies starting to adopt more restrictive speech laws?

43:52 Solutions to reversing the free speech recession

52:25 Outro

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If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

In 18th century America, news traveled slowly across the Atlantic. Newspapers reprinted secondhand reports, private letters, and unverified stories from abroad, leaving readers with multiple versions of reality.

In a world educated by an unverifiable news cycle, how did misinformation shape early American life?

To explore how news, rumor, and misrepresentation influenced the course of the American Revolution and the nation that followed, we are joined by Jordan Taylor, a historian of American history and the author of Misinformation Nation: Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:05 How colonists got their news

08:28 Why foreign news dominated early newspapers

17:33 How colonial newspapers verified information

22:32 Did miscommunication help spark the Revolution?

29:57 The XYZ Affair and the Sedition Act

39:21 The First Amendment's original meaning

44:34 Current day parallels

55:41 Outro

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If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

In March, juries in California and New Mexico delivered seminal verdicts holding Meta and YouTube liable for failing to protect young users from harm.

Both verdicts found that the companies were negligent in the design or operation of their platforms and that each company knew their platforms could be dangerous when used by a minor.

The courts found that the design elements of the platforms could be separated from the content hosted on the platforms, thus removing the need to consider the First Amendment or Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Joining us to break down the rulings and their possible free speech implications is Mike Masnick, CEO & founder of Techdirt & the Copia Institute.

Masnick is the author of "Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They're Actually Cheering For."

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:29 Why these verdicts scare the hell out of Mike

10:34 Are social media algorithms "addictive"?

21:45 Did Meta fail to protect kids?

30:37 The First Amendment and Section 230

43:13 Is social media the new Big Tobacco?

55:15 The role of parents in social media use

59:04: Outro

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Governments around the world have increasingly sought to regulate online speech well beyond their borders.

If global platforms are forced to comply with the world's most restrictive laws, whose speech standards win? And what happens to a free and open internet when governments apply their censorship rules across borders?

Today we are joined by Preston Byrne, an attorney and expert in international law and emerging technologies. He has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of law, tech, and policy, and he now serves as counsel to a coalition of internet publishing platforms suing the United Kingdom's internet regulator. Follow him on X and Substack.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:15Preston's background

16:46 What do foreign censorship laws actually target?

22:35 The UK's Online Safety Act

29:39 Free speech cultures: US vs. UK

40:48 The GRANITE Act and protecting Americans from foreign censorship

1:01:15 Outro

Don't miss the free speech event of the year! Get your tickets and learn more about the Soapbox Conference here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Several stories have put government power over speech and technology back in the spotlight.

In this episode, we break down the Pentagon's targeting of the AI company Anthropic, the push for government-mandated age verification technologies, and the Department of Justice's raid on a Washington Post reporter's home.

We are joined by:

• Jennifer Huddleston, senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute

• Mike Godwin, AI and privacy expert, first staff counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, first full-time general counsel at Wikimedia, and author of two books on internet law and policy

• Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of FIRE

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:19 The Pentagon vs. Anthropic?

22:40 The FTC, Congress, and age verification laws

48:15 Is it unusual for the DOJ to seize a reporter's computer?

59:46 Outro

Don't miss the free speech event of the year! Get your tickets and learn more about the Soapbox Conference here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

In the years leading up to the American Revolution, newspapers and pamphlets overflowed with essays signed "Publius," "Brutus," and "A Farmer." Those arguments helped shape a nation, but the authors' real names were nowhere to be found.

Americans have long relied on anonymous speech to challenge the powerful, protect dissenters, and keep the focus on ideas rather than identities. That tradition has endured into America's digital age, even as anonymous speech has become more controversial.

To explore America's history with anonymity, we are joined by Jeff Kosseff, a nonresident senior legal fellow at The Future of Free Speech and author of The United States of Anonymous. Preorder his forthcoming book, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential Freedom.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:01 What is anonymity?

04:38 Anonymous speech in Colonial America

15:58 Does the First Amendment protect anonymity?

20:35 Anonymous speech in the Civil Rights Era

31:17 The internet and anonymity

35:44 Modern anonymity debates: DHS subpoenas, age verification, social media regulation, and VPN bans

51:53 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

One year into Trump 2.0, we examine the administration's record on free speech and how it compares to the president's campaign pledge to "bring back free speech to America."

We also discuss recent ICE protests, including the right to carry a gun and to film law enforcement, and what these encounters reveal about protest rights today.

Today we are joined by:

• Clark Neily, senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute

• Timothy Zick, professor of government and citizenship at William & Mary Law School and author of the new book Trump 2.0: Executive Power and the First Amendment

• Conor Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney at FIRE

Zick is also the author of Public Protest and Governmental Immunities, Managed Dissent: The Law of Public Protest, and Arming Public Protests.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:47 ICE protests: Alex Pretti, filming police, and the right to carry a gun

13:30 How to hold law enforcement accountable

19:10 Don Lemon's arrest

23:27 Trump's retribution politics and the "domestic terrorist" label

35:05 FCC pressure and attacks on the media

39:40 Free speech for noncitizens

53:49 Attacks on higher education

58:40 Trump 1.0 vs. Trump 2.0

01:02:25 What reforms are needed?

1:09:13 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Recent protests in Iran have drawn renewed attention to dissent under the country's authoritarian government. The demonstrations have been met with mass arrests, internet restrictions, and even accusations of murder.

While large-scale demonstrations appear to have subsided for now, reporting from Iran describes a tense calm, a heightened security presence, and widespread "disappointment and disillusionment" among Iranians.

Today we are joined by Pouya Nikmand, an Iranian-born writer who escaped Iran at 18. He writes about how his experiences have shaped his understanding of expression, freedom, and belonging on his Substack, Outliving Iran.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:17 What's happening in Iran now?

10:47 What does life look like under an authoritarian regime?

20:33 Growing up in Iran

24:48 The influence of Western media in Iran

32:55 Escaping Iran

37:05 Life after escape

40:55 Being trafficked to Poland

54:45 Escaping captivity and coming to America

01:01:53 An immigrant's perspective on US immigration

1:07:24 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.