Stories of the week
Macron tried blaming America’s free speech for France’s riots. He’s wrong.
On Saturday, the 19th century town hall of Limoges, France was mostly destroyed in an act of arson. Protestors (some of whom presumably were involved in setting the fire) blocked firefighters from the site, according to the Interior Ministry. Today, the building sits gutted in what a regional official
Do we really want government officials wielding that kind of power over what Americans can see and say on the internet? No. That’s the approach that Europe takes to regulating online speech, not the United States.
FIRE is bringing the Free Speech Forum to the West Coast! by Molly Nocheck
FIRE and Stanford University will host a one-day Free Speech Forum for high school juniors and seniors on Saturday, March 20, bringing FIRE’s popular program to the West Coast for the first time.
This week in Expression
Douglass understood free speech and equality as mutually reinforcing. His response to the betrayal of emancipation’s promises was to insist on the freedom to expose injustice, organize and answer back. Those who now treat free speech and racial equality as mutually exclusive should reckon with that history.
This week on So to Speak
On this episode of So to Speak, host & FIRE EVP Nico Perrino talks with Fin Colleton and Kratima Divakar, student fellows at Columbia University’s Trust Collaboratory and organizers of American Dialogues, about their efforts to bring strangers together for candid conversations in New York City parks and whether face-to-face dialogue can help bridge political and cultural divides.
Nico also sat down with some colleagues—Campus Advocacy Special Counsel Robert Shibley, Director of Campus Advocacy Lindsie Rank, Chief Supervising Attorney Conor Fitzpatrick, and Attorney Jeff Zeman—to discuss the Cornell sexual assault controversy, academic freedom, protests in Europe, Flock surveillance cameras, censorship in high school theater, and the upcoming Supreme Court term, along with updates on FIRE’s inaugural Soapbox conference and his forthcoming book, Free Speech Generation (out Jan 19, pre-order now!).
This week on FIRE’s blog
FIRE in the press!
To save democracy, we need online anonymity (Boston Globe) by Sarah McLaughlin
The path forward for Americans is clear: Cherish your anonymity, challenge efforts to subvert your right to speak freely online, and tell your legislators and public officials that the United States must not join the rest of the world in this campaign to age-gate adults who want to express themselves on the internet, without being tracked, indexed, or worse.
International free speech stories of the week
Australia Set to Sue Facebook, TikTok in Child-Safety Push (Bloomberg) by Angus Whitley
Since Australia’s world-first ban came into force almost a year ago, the government has doubled the maximum penalty for breaches to A109.2million(76 million). The government also granted eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant greater investigative powers, including the ability to demand documents from social media platforms and summon current or ex-employees to answer questions.
“Now she has more powers to be able to gather the evidence that she needs to take those five companies to the Federal Court,” Wells said. “She’s now using those powers to prepare her case.”
[Georgia] Journalist Vakho Sanaia Sentenced to 30 Days’ Detention in Proceedings Over Social Media Posts (Civil Georgia)
The October 19 ruling concerned several social media posts and a video. Shortly before his detention on July 22, Sanaia wrote on Facebook: “For 14 days, don’t call Shalva [Papuashvili] and Lado [Bozhadze] d***s. When I get out, I’ll take care of that matter myself,” adding laughing emojis.
On August 5, minutes after his release, Sanaia again addressed the two politicians on Facebook. “When I wrote that people shouldn’t call Papuashvili and Bozhadze d****s, I was arrested,” he wrote. “Now, a question that has been bothering me for two weeks: If Shalva Papuashvili and Bozhadze themselves wrote, ‘Don’t call us d****s,’ would they also end up facing jail time? Shalva, Lado, go ahead, boys! I dare you!”
Taiwan indicts 5 for attack on comedian who satirised China’s Xi (Straits Times)
Subscription of the week
This week we released the first installment of Breaking the Academic Filibuster, a new writing project about higher education reform that I have decided to debut on Substack. I believe Substack and others should be organizing to give traditional publishing a run for its money — hopefully one day on the internet, but eventually even in bookstores. It also gives me a chance to bring you into the process. I want you to read it and tell me where I’m wrong, what I’m missing, and what I should be sure to include.
Breaking the Academic Filibuster is also a fundraiser. The introduction is free. The upcoming installments are for paid Substack subscribers, with my share of subscription proceeds supporting FIRE.
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber so you can join the fold and help me get this project where it needs to be!
I Was Cheering for Yale. Then I Lost My Summer Vacation.
Early one gray morning in late April 2026, I found myself walking around Copley Square alone, cheering.
As a Canadian who is losing my freedom of speech due to our Liberal government’s love of censorship I look to the US as the leader for those of us who value freedom as it is the only thing keeping us from tyranny.
No, "face-to-face dialogue" CANNOT "help bridge political and cultural divides.". Many (not all, but many) such divides are fundamentally irreconcilable, and often nice people shy away from this. Those people who do this stuff confuse having a pleasant chat versus meaningful action. There's nothing wrong with having a pleasant chat across those political and cultural divides. But it doesn't change anything to do so.