Australia: God Emperor of Global Speech! & ‘Canceling’ gets its day in court
Bringing you the latest free speech news (5/19/24)
Stories of the week
Given the determination of authoritarian governments to suppress dissent both within their countries and — when the opportunity arises — outside of them, Australia should not set a precedent that repressive governments will be eager to exploit. If global takedowns become the norm, countries with the most draconian speech laws will dictate what the rest of us can see and say online. Surely Australians do not want their online experience filtered through Pakistan’s blasphemy laws or Russia’s amorphous ban on “fake news” (which reportedly includes calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine . . . an invasion).
Behavioral Scientist Cory Clark discusses her co-authored paper, “Taboos and Self-Censorship Among U.S. Psychology Professors” (paywalled)
5. Most professors reported some fear of social sanctions if they were to express their own empirical beliefs regarding the controversial conclusions, especially of social media attacks, peer ostracism, and being labeled pejorative terms.
6. Compared to the untenured, tenured profs were just as fearful of all consequences, and tenured profs reported just as much self-censorship (perhaps because tenure does not protect against the consequences profs fear most—name calling and ostracism).
This week in ERI
This week in FIRE’s blog
Another Connecticut town tramples Constitution with onerous town green rules by Brennan VanderVeen
Majority of college students support Israel/Gaza campus protests, 1 in 10 actually participate in them by Sean Stevens
Students more likely to face arrest on campuses with poor free speech climates by Nathan Honeycutt
Montgomery College student and faculty groups’ film screenings canceled just minutes after college president’s 11th hour condemnation by Jessie Appleby
International free speech story of the week
How court rulings in Hong Kong and Australia threaten the global internet by Sarah McLaughlin
FIRE in the press!
PEN America is Right to Stay Out of Gaza War Activism (Daily Beast) by Jacob Mchangama
- interviews FIRE Senior Fellow Nadine Strossen for the podcast
London Calling: Ronnie’s First Amendment Rundown
OK, so, technically not a First Amendment decision — though the case does sound in defamation, false light, and so forth, which can proceed only in ways that stay within constitutional guardrails — but still too cool to pass up. After all, how often do we get a federal court opinion that dedicates its entire first paragraph to name-checking Greg, co-author Rikki Schlott, and “The Canceling of the American Mind”? (Come for the shout-out, stay for the last paragraph’s sum-up of the ruling and tie-up of “Canceling” as framing device.)
Podcast of the month
FIRE’s COO Alisha Glennon and General Counsel Ronnie London sat down with Executive Vice President and host of the “
” podcast to talk about FIRE’s growth and expansion efforts as well as continued campus unrest:
It is impossible to overstate how apathetic (yes, I'm aware this is terribly phrased) Australians are. As long as you tell us we will be safe and cosy, we pretty much accept anything.