iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Jacob Mchangama

The Future of Free Speech @futurefreespeech.org · 14/05/2026

“Digital sovereignty” proponents argue that, to protect democracy, nations must control their online spheres. But would Viktor Orbán have lost in Hungary if the Internet were under government control? @mchangama.bsky.social at @aodemocracies.bsky.social's 2026 Copenhagen Democracy Summit:

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

If you're looking for more analysis and solutions about the future of free speech, please be sure to check out our new book: www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

press.jhu.edu

The Future of Free Speech

Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy's Most Essential Freedom

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

In this @reason.com interview on our new book, Jeff Kosseff and I discuss: — EU hate speech laws — Jawboning and social media censorship — Solutions to the global free speech recession Huge thanks to @nickgillespie.bsky.social for hosting this great conversation. youtu.be/RbpP4mwGEN0?...

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

📅 ATTN ATLANTA FOLKS: Next week, I will join FEE’s Katrina Gulliver for an enlightening conversation about my new book (co-authored with @jkosseff.bsky.social) If you’re in the Metro Atlanta area, come and join me on May 6! Registration link below ⬇️

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

White’s argument on this important issue requires a good-faith attempt to test it against principle, logic, and history. I do that here: www.bedrockprinciple.com/p/yes-free-s...

bedrockprinciple.com

Yes, Free Speech Depends on A Resilient Culture

A response to Ken White’s polemic against “free speech culture.”

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Recently, @kenwhite.bsky.social wrote that “free speech culture” is being invoked as a rhetorical shield for the powerful and a pretext for state censorship. I disagree. Hypocrisy and grifting don’t discredit the idea that underpins our strong legal protections for free speech.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Free expression is facing mounting pressure worldwide. In the most productive year in our history, your support made critical, independent work possible. But the challenges are only accelerating—and your support matters now more than ever.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Calling for someone to be cancelled is often protected by the First Amendment, but do we want to live in a society that rewards silence and conformity over opinions and debate? Thanks to our sponsors: @thefireorg.bsky.social & @1stforall.bsky.social. 📺: youtu.be/5D1YTeSZ6bI?...

youtu.be

How Fear of Social Punishment Shapes Campus Discourse | Greg Lukianoff, Ash Kazaryan, Kevin Goldberg

YouTube video by The Future of Free Speech

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Free speech isn't protected by laws alone. At @futurefreespeech.org, our vision is to further a culture that reinforces it. At our #FreeSpeechSummit2025, @glukianoff explains why the instinct to cancel is bad for democracy.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

From firings triggered by online outrage to government jawboning, this wide-ranging discussion is thoughtful, sharp, and essential for anyone who wants to defend free speech. SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube for more videos from our 2025 Summit: www.youtube.com/@FutureFreeS...

youtube.com

The Future of Free Speech

The Future of Free Speech is an independent, non-partisan think tank located at Vanderbilt University. We work to restore a resilient global culture of free speech in the digital age through knowledge...

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

ICYM our #FreeSpeechSummit2025, here’s a standout session. In a live recording of Advisory Opinions, @davidfrenchjag.bsky.social and Sarah Isgur dig into some of the biggest First Amendment battles unfolding in America. youtu.be/aEDJyyc8LVY?...

youtu.be

Is Security The New Excuse To Silence Speech? | Advisory Opinions Live ft. Sarah Isgur, David French

YouTube video by The Future of Free Speech

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Democracy cannot function without open discourse. At #TheFreeSpeechSummit2025, John Wood Jr., @chatterton.bsky.social, and Michael Moynihan explored how we must restore our faith in civil dialogue, especially when we disagree.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

We pitched an ambitious project focused on a global effort to revive free expression by sharing three core First Amendment principles with democratic swing states experiencing a deepening free speech recession.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Warm congratulations to the winners and fellow competitors—so many powerful ideas aimed at strengthening freedom in places that need it most.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Deeply honored to take part in Atlas Network's Smart Bets Pitch Competition. A huge thank you to the Atlas team for giving us the opportunity to share our project.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

The page proofs for my forthcoming book with @jkosseff.bsky.social have arrived! Here’s a sneak peek at the contents:

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Zakaria also rightly points out that, even though criticisms of European policy from U.S. officials are true, it doesn’t make their hypocrisy on free speech any better. Watch the full segment here: www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/w...

cnn.com

Last look: Trump and Europe’s clash over free speech | CNN

Fareed argues that the Trump administration’s continued attack on European free speech restrictions may have some merit — but it should also be practicing at home what it preaches abroad.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

The efforts to shed light on just how bad things have gotten in Europe are gaining momentum. Another mainstream U.S. news outlet (Fareed Zakaria's GPS at @cnn.com) details the free speech recession we have been warning about for years.

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Reposted by Jacob Mchangama

Foreign Affairs @foreignaffairs.com · 27/10/2025

“When free-speech restrictions are deemed legitimate only if imposed by the ‘right’ people against the ‘wrong’ ones, then free speech indeed becomes an artificial concept,” writes @mchangama.bsky.social.

foreignaffairs.com

Who Has Free Speech?

The global fight over a powerful idea.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Instead, there's mostly a furious denial that Europe is restricting free speech at all (after all, hate speech — as defined by European states and institutions — is not free speech, you simpleton!).

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

The need for European civil-libertarian free speech groups has never been greater. Unfortunately, I have seen very little evidence that mainstream European opinion views the steady increase of speech-restrictive laws and policies as a problem.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Fortunately for Americans, the First Amendment protects against such blatant viewpoint discrimination, which is wide open to political abuse. Meanwhile, European law actively encourages it.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

This is the type of proposal that many people would condemn as "authoritarian" if proposed by Trump, but praise as a "defense of democracy" when proposed by EU member states.

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Reposted by Jacob Mchangama

Foreign Affairs @foreignaffairs.com · 22/10/2025

In a review of “Our Dear Friends in Moscow” by Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov and “Ideology and Meaning-Making Under the Putin Regime” by Marlene Laruelle, Joshua Yaffa discusses the forces that have shaped the Putin era.

foreignaffairs.com

Putins All the Way Down

How Russia was remade.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

The timing of Dabhoiwala’s criticism of U.S. Free Speech Exceptionalism could not be more ironic as the Trump admin targets progressive ideologies, institutions, and individuals. A stark reminder that free speech, properly understood and robustly defended, benefits us all.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

My review argues that Dabhoiwala ignores how free speech, for all its flaws, has been a genuine engine of emancipation—not a cynical cover for power.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

In @foreignaffairs.com, I review Fara Dabhoiwala’s "What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea"—a book that treats the First Amendment as chiefly benefiting “propertied white men” and Europe's “balanced” approach as virtuous.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I encourage you to read these pieces and to keep up the fight to defend free speech in the UK. To stay informed of our work on these and other issues, follow us @futurefreespeech.org and subscribe to our newsletter: futurefreespeech.org/join-our-com...

futurefreespeech.org

Join Our Community

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I also wrote about this case as part of a broader, troubling trend throughout a Europe that has failed to learn lessons 20 years in the making about why we should never give in to the assassin’s veto on speech that offends: www.persuasion.community/p/europe-lea...

persuasion.community

Europe Learned Nothing From the Danish Cartoon Affair

Twenty years later, blasphemy laws continue to stalk free societies.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

At @thefireorg.bsky.social's Substack, I examined the broader free speech crackdown in the UK and called for a new wave of free speech champions to course-correct the country: expression.fire.org/p/the-united...

expression.fire.org

The United Kingdom needs a new generation of Levellers

The country once boasted a proud tradition of free speech, but it’s being eviscerated one arrest at a time.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I recently wrote about this case in the @telegraphnews.bsky.social here and what it means for the UK’s legacy as the birthplace of many free speech defenders www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09...

telegraph.co.uk

Access Restricted

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

I’m not saying that free speech prevailed in this case because I happen to be in the UK this week. But I’m also not NOT saying it. In all seriousness, this is a very welcome outcome in a country struggling with a declining commitment to free expression.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I also explained how today’s attacks on expression echo past attempts to silence dissent. Free speech isn’t about who controls the reins of power. It’s the foundation of liberty itself. Read the full piece at @cnn.com: www.cnn.com/2025/10/11/p...

cnn.com

Analysis: Trump’s free speech backflip was 250 years in the making | CNN Politics

Trump’s complete turnabout on speech is indicative of the contradictions and ironies in the bedrock principle of the American liberties in the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

At @cnn.com, I shared with @zbyronwolf.bsky.social that, when it comes to American history, free speech and racial equality are friends, not foes.

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

From abolitionists jailed for spreading “dangerous ideas” to civil rights leaders who made free speech their shield—America’s most profound moral progress has depended on protecting speech we hate. That’s the lesson we risk forgetting as we approach the U.S.’s 250th anniversary.

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Reposted by Jacob Mchangama

The Future of Free Speech @futurefreespeech.org · 11/10/2025

Read @zbyronwolf.bsky.social's full analysis of the state of free speech in the U.S., with more insights from @mchangama.bsky.social about the legacy of the civil rights movement and crackdowns on free expression in Europe. www.cnn.com/2025/10/11/p...

cnn.com

Analysis: Trump’s free speech backflip was 250 years in the making | CNN Politics

Trump’s complete turnabout on speech is indicative of the contradictions and ironies in the bedrock principle of the American liberties in the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment.

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Reposted by Jacob Mchangama

The Future of Free Speech @futurefreespeech.org · 11/10/2025

"Mchangama, on the other hand, hopes the American left will look at the Trump administration today and dial back on efforts to control speech. "'Power changes hands,' @mchangama.bsky.social said."

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Want more insights and video highlights from the Summit? Subscribe to our newsletter for updates: futurefreespeech.org/join-our-com...

futurefreespeech.org

Join Our Community

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Jacob Mchangama @mchangama.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

At a time when free expression is under strain, our #FreeSpeechSummit2025 offered space for serious, principled debate about the First Amendment and the culture that sustains it. Honored to see this crucial discussion in the spotlight from @usatoday.com:

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