Student trust in Ivy Leagues is declining, New data on Americans’ support for political violence, Trump ‘took the freedom of speech away,’ & more!

Bringing you the latest free speech news (10/12/25)

Stories of the week

• Student trust in Ivy Leagues is declining — thanks to Harvard, Penn, and Columbia by

  Chapin Lenthall-Cleary

• Support for Political Violence Among Americans (SRC Report) by Kevin McCaffree & Anondah Saide

• California wants to make platforms pay for offensive user posts. The First Amendment and Section 230 say otherwise by

  Ari Cohn

Supporters have tried to evade SB 771’s First Amendment and Section 230 concerns, largely by obfuscating what the bill actually does. To hear them tell it, SB 711 doesn’t create any new liability, it just holds social media companies responsible if their algorithms aid and abet a violation of civil rights law, which is already illegal.

But if you look just a little bit closer, that explanation doesn’t quite hold up. To understand why, it’s important to clarify what “aiding and abetting” liability is. Fortunately, the Supreme Court explained this just recently — and in a case also about social media algorithms to boot.

This week in ERI

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This week in FIRE’s blog

• Arkansas wants to jail librarians. The First Amendment won’t allow it by

  Greg Harold Greubel

• Texas targets antifa because Trump said so, I guess by

  Adam Goldstein

The legendary and well-respected law enforcement agencies in the state of Texas would, I am sure, try to stop a far-right terror attack just as soon as they would a far-left terror attack. So what’s the point of targeting an ideology in this press release?

It makes the actions that follow constitutionally suspect by suggesting an unconstitutional motive: the targeting of political opponents. There’s no good reason to do it and a really good reason not to do it: If a group is targeted unlawfully, the evidence might be inadmissible, if it is, in fact, engaged in criminal activity.

• Introducing the SPFI Sentinel: Free speech stories by — and for — student journalists

So far this year, FIRE’s Student Press Freedom Initiative has received 84 calls for help from student journalists. In 2024, there were 140. As they cover the battle for free speech on campus, they face their own fights for press freedoms, often combating censorship without the recognition they deserve.

That’s why we created the SPFI Sentinel. With the Sentinel, we’re celebrating the student journalists on the front lines of the First Amendment by recognizing their unflinching reporting and sharing their stories with 1,300 other student newsrooms in the U.S.

FIRE in the press!

• MU administration’s cancellation of ‘Black 2 Class’ event strikes at free speech rights (Columbia Missourian) by William Harris

International free speech stories of the week

• UK says it will restrict repeated protests after 500 arrests at pro-Palestinian vigil (AP) by Jill Lawless

“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. “However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbors to live their lives without fear. Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.”

• Nearly 500 arrested at Palestine Action protest in London (BBC) by Thomas Mackintosh & Imogen James

• Australia bans graphic videos of Charlie Kirk assassination, Iryna Zarutska train stabbing (news.com.au) by Frank Chung

• NSU student lands in jail over blasphemy case (Daily Observer)

Police arrested Apurba Pal late Saturday night from a residential area in the capital, following allegations that he desecrated the Quran inside the NSU campus earlier that day. The incident sparked protests among students, prompting university authorities to intervene and remove the accused from campus.

Video of the week

Attorney and FIRE Director of Public Advocacy

Aaron Terr

reacts to President Trump’s claim that burning the American flag is not (or shouldn’t be?) protected by the First Amendment and, more concerningly, that he “took the freedom of speech away.”