The ‘bias response’ pipeline that starts in college ends in gov’t, Yours truly writes President Trump, & more!

Bringing you the latest free speech news (1/26/25)

Story of the week

• Inside State-Run ‘Bias Response Hotlines,’ Where Fellow Citizens Can Report Your ‘Offensive Joke’ (The Washington Free Beacon) by

  Aaron Sibarium

But where bureaucrats see a form of data collection, others see a regime of social control. Civil liberties advocates argue that the mere possibility of ending up in a government database will encourage citizens to self-censor and that bias reporting systems push the bounds of what is permitted by the First Amendment. They also worry that even if the systems stay within those bounds, they are fomenting a culture antithetical to self-government—one in which snitching is normalized as a state-sanctioned practice.

This week in FIRE’s blog

• Law professor challenges university after campus ‘shooting’ hypothetical changed in lesson plan by

  Graham Piro

• Snitch hotlines for ‘offensive’ speech were a nightmare on campus — and now they’re coming to a neighborhood near you by

  Angel Eduardo

• FIRE to University of Texas at Dallas: Stop censoring the student press by Dominic Coletti

• FIRE’s president to Donald Trump: Here’s how you can help save free speech by David Volodzko

This week in ERI

• My Letter to the Incoming President by me

• Bias reporting systems were a nightmare on campus — and now they’re everywhere by me

This week on ‘So to Speak’

• This week on

  So to Speak
  ,
  Nico Perrino
  spoke with UChicago Law professor
  Tom Ginsburg
  and Tony Banout, the executive director of UChicago’s Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, about the university’s historic commitment to free speech and their new book, ‘The Chicago Canon on Free Inquiry and Expression.’

• FIRE members get invited to tune into a monthly webinar for a chance to hear from FIRE staff and ask questions about our latest cases and the most pressing free speech news. This week, FIRE’s Executive Vice President

  Nico Perrino
  was joined by Supervising Senior Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick, Director of Public Advocacy
  Aaron Terr
  , and Faculty Legal Defense/Student Association Counsel Zach Greenberg to talk about the TikTok ban, Trump’s executive orders, developments around DEI programs, the Ann Selzer case, anti-Semitism and more. Sign up to become a FIRE member (or become a paid subscriber to ERI) today so you don’t miss any future webinars!

FIRE Monthly Member Webinar — January 2025

International free speech stories of the week

• NUS introduces framework to assess speakers’ controversy risk after scholar’s disinvitation last year (The Online Citizen)

• India court orders seizure of 'offensive' MF Husain paintings (BBC) by Nikita Yadav

• China: Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin sentenced to three and a half years for covering historic protests against censorship (Reporters Without Border)

In China, independent journalists who address issues deemed sensitive by the regime often face charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Zhang Zhan, a journalist sentenced to four years in prison in 2020 for reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak, is an emblematic example. Released in May 2024, she has been criminally detained under the same charge since August 2024, this time after posting information on social media about the harassment of activists in China.

Video of the month

As a Canadian, Drake may not know how high the bar is in the United States for public figures to successfully sue for defamation. He’ll have to prove that Kendrick Lamar and his record label, Universal Music Group, knew that Drake had never engaged in pedophilia or didn’t care whether or not it was true or false. On Friday, UMG filed a motion to dismiss the suit.