WSJ plugs FIRE’s SM report, Lesson 2 in keeping FIRE nonpartisan, & more!
Bringing you the latest free speech news (11/17/24)
Stories of the week
How Trump Can Combat Censorship (WSJ) by Andrew M. Grossman & Kristin A. Shapiro
A transparency-based approach targets true government censorship without triggering these externalities. As a 2024 report[*] from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression explains, transparency would “enable the public to know when the federal government is communicating with social media companies and what it’s communicating about,” which “would help prevent overreach and empower Americans to challenge it when it occurs.” The risks are minimal: Even if the definition of the conduct subject to a reporting requirement is overbroad, nothing is actually being prohibited.
My visit from police on Remembrance Sunday is living proof of our two-tier justice system (The Telegraph) by Allison Pearson
PC S, the one on the left, who did all the talking, told me that they were here to inform me that I had been accused of a non-crime hate incident (NCHI). It was to do with something I had posted on X (formerly Twitter) a year ago. A YEAR ago? Yes. Stirring up racial hatred, apparently.
This week in FIRE’s blog
For more on why FIRE opposes the Antisemitism Awareness Act, check out this piece I wrote for ERI back in July.
This week in ERI
The FIRE team is now about 120 strong, and I often get positive notes from staff about how ideologically and politically diverse we actually are. We’re made up of full-blown anarcho-capitalists, socialists, libertarians, liberals, conservatives, atheists, the devoutly religious, and everything in between. FIRE Senior Writer/Editor and ERI contributor
frequently mentions that he’s never worked in a place where people are so varied in their politics and ideology but can still get along so well. He chalks it up to the fact that to work at FIRE, you only need to agree on one thing: free expression. With that as the uniting principle and primary focus, you can differ on pretty much anything else and still work together.
This week on ‘So to Speak’
This week on
, is joined by free speech hero, and outspoken critic of Islamic fundamentalism, .
International free speech stories of the week
2 New York Men Charged in Monthslong Plot to Kill Iranian Activist (NYT) by Harubie Meko
Hongkonger charged with sedition under Article 23 security law over social media posts (HKFP) by Irene Chan
Podcast of the week
I was thrilled to join the “Growing Up with Delia Burgess” podcast to talk about my upbringing, time at Stanford, and career in free speech advocacy.
If you haven’t seen what’s going on at Norwich University, you may be interested. Here’s a recent story in VTDigger, a local Vermont newspaper: https://vtdigger.org/2024/11/12/norwich-university-student-newspaper-in-standoff-with-administration/