Free Speech

Do overblown fears of the First Amendment's demise undermine healthy debate?

• By James McWilliams

How billionaires and college administrators are using their power to silence students.

• By David M. Perry

With SESTA, Congress gets it backwards: Speaking isn't dangerous for sex workers. Censorship is.

• By Noah Berlatsky

Only 64 percent felt freedom of speech was secure in the U.S.

• By Elena Gooray

The Supreme Court is now hearing arguments for a case regarding a Minnesota law that bars political clothing at polling booths.

• By Chinelo Nkechi Ikem

By jailing medics, the government is stifling its citizens' basic right to protest.

• By Noah Berlatsky

Cloudflare's Matthew Prince unilaterally removed the Daily Stormer from the Web, and his decision could have major implications for censorship online.

• By Catherine Wilson

And, in too many cases, administrators are helping them.

• By Elizabeth King

When commentators hasten to blame students and protesters, they engage in a sort of chattering-class solidarity—while empowering the true threats to free speech.

• By Noah Berlatsky

Milo Yiannopoulos announced an event without booking venues or speakers. Now he's crying oppression, and the media needs to stop falling for it.

• By David M. Perry

Indian activists take part in a protest rally against the killing of Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh at the India Gate memorial in New Delhi on September 6th, 2017.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

The three California chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union appear to be taking a hardline stance on white supremacist protestors, but it's still unclear what that will mean for future rallies.

• By Kate Wheeling

The firing of Lisa Durden after her appearance on Tucker Carlson's show exposes a major blind spot for free-speech crusaders.

• By David M. Perry

Cloudflare, a prominent San Francisco outfit, provides services to neo-Nazi sites like The Daily Stormer, including giving them personal information on people who complain about their content.

• By Ken Schwencke

In internal memos, groups opposing tighter state campaign finance rules coach their local supporters on how to battle disclosure of political donors.

• By Robert Faturechi

This new strain of complaint about political correctness is really just a warmed over version of the old complaints about politicians hamstringing national security matters.

• By Seth Masket

Recent surveys suggest the American love of free speech is waning.

• By Lisa Wade

Proponents of tighter reins on political money worry that a Wisconsin ruling about the governor’s recall campaign could carry seeds of another Citizens United.

• By Robert Faturechi

A new law in Jordan designed to counter the threat of ISIS has led to a crackdown on free speech and civil liberties.

• By Alyssa Sims

The Justice Department’s “Ferguson Report” will join a small number of significant public documents to be bound and sent to bookstores.

• By Lauren Kirchner

Offensive content may be protected under the First Amendment, but is deliberately picking a fight?

• By Jared Keller

What do we stand to lose when we gain big convenient platforms?

• By Susie Cagle

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that websites on that continent can be responsible for their commenters' over-the-top statements. Beware, rest of the world.

• By Michael Todd

ESPN’s Chris Broussard’s attack on homosexuality, sparked by the first coming out of a major American athlete, should not be condoned as free speech.

• By Nicholas Jackson