Questions tagged [freedom-of-speech]
Freedom of Speech is a political belief that the government should not regulate forms of speech merely because it dislikes said speech. Use this tag to discuss the broader theory, or laws that restrict speech
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Do any democracies with strong freedom of expression have laws against religious desecration?
Sweden is considering law change to stop public Koran burnings, Aftonbladet reports | Reuters
An Iraqi immigrant to Sweden burned the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque last week, causing outrage in ...
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What arguments support claims that the Biden Administration used "threat and coercion" when telling social media that they "have to take speech down"?
In the July 6, 2023 PBS Newshour video Judge limits government's contact with social media companies after GOP states sue
after about 02:00, Host Amna Nawaz begins:
..Several Republican state ...
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Is there such a thing as "right to be heard" by the authorities?
Does an individual have a right to be heard by state authorities of their grievances? Would such a right be possible to deduce from freedom of expression as defined in the American, Australian and ...
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How can this new ban on drag possibly be considered constitutional?
This seems impossibly ridiculous.
How do they define, specifically, what it means to be dressed in drag? Let's say we are clear on whether someone is male or not; now, what does it mean, specifically, ...
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How could SpaceX prevent military use of their satellites while preserving free speech absolutism?
According to Western media, citing Russian officials, Russia has somewhat transparently threatened to attack SpaceX satellites.
September 19, 2022
A Russian representative named Konstantin Vorontsov ...
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Which EU countries were or still are China managed to have an influence on academic freedom?
During a discussion, a colleague mentioned that China has an influence on academic freedom in many countries. This seems to be confirmed by this article which mentions
academic exchanges as a ...
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Freedom of press in the face of profit
As far as I know, the guarantee of freedom of press is a legal tool to ensure the government cannot use threats and violence to force a news agency to not publicize a piece of news. But what about the ...
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Is there any other country in the world outside the EU that allows this kind of "freedom of expression/speech"? [closed]
There were some Islamophobic incidents that took place in the EU targeting Islam. In France, Charlie Hebdo published cartoons; in Denmark, Jyllands-Posten published cartoons; and in Norway, people ...
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Did Björn Höcke sue (and win?) for being called "new Hitler" or "AfD fascist"?
Somewhat related to a recent question, where in answers we find out out that several AfD members won defamation lawsuits for being called "Nazi", Höcke was called "new Hitler" and ...
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Which countries have blocked access to rt.com?
We know that the EU countries have blocked access to rt.com, and some people in India have also reported that they can no longer get to it. But not all western countries have blocked it. Does anyone ...
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Can you be an avowed atheist in Iran?
It seems that, at least as recently as 2014, Iran had a death penalty for apostasy. But apostasy isn't non-belief. In fact, that charge seems to be a rather contextual matter. In this Guardian story ...
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Does "freedom of speech" only refer to safety from the government? [closed]
If people in a country can say whatever they want and not be arrested by the government, but some other organization arrests/imprisons/tortures people who say things they don't like, should we say ...
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Has the US Department of Justice made an attempt to define what is or isn't journalistic activity? Developing new policy, but to what will it apply?
From Politico's FBI raid on Project Veritas founder’s home sparks questions about press freedom
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, Garland was asked who qualifies as a journalist ...
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Is there any country that officially banned "COVID-denial" or "COVID anti-vaccination" speech?
Romania has a very COVID-related mortality rate (when compared to the population) and the main cause seems to be the low vaccination rate:
The country is paying the price for having the European ...
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Can employees of councils criticize the PM or the Government in the UK?
Watching this video, at the 1:38 timestamp, an employee of the council says that she needs to be careful of what is she saying.
Unrepeatable, basically - err, I work for the council though, so I need ...
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Is freedom of the press covered under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
The First Amendment reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the ...
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Is there an objective ground for restricting forms of speech/opinion?
Is there an objective ground for restricting forms of speech/opinion?
In other words, a restriction that's not biased, but one that may be interpreted independently of the subject.
I find it hard to ...
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To what legislation is Sen. Hagerty referring "that threatens liability for ... companies that do not ... censor ... speech."?
In Americans, Not Government, Are the Arbiters of Truth, July, 29, 2021, by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) for National Review, Hagerty complains that
When the White House doesn’t like what Americans are ...
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How it is determined, if some country is democratic? [closed]
It's interesting for me, how it is decided by western community. For example, we have country "A" (imagine, parliament republic), which holds elections.
Note also, that it's not about "...
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How to differ "angry mobs" from "fighters for freedom"? [closed]
I'm looking at those images and cannot understand how western correspondents (for example), differ "lawful use of force" from "unlawful use of force" (on the last image).
2020, US:
...
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Is there any international reaction on police violence in France?
On those holidays another round of anti-Covid protests took place in France:
Protests were suppressed rudely, with police violence and water cannons.
Is there any reaction from international ...
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Is free speech declining in the Western countries? [closed]
Background
Some time ago I have watched a discussion between two professors who argued that free speech is on the decline in Western countries (examples were mostly provided for US and UK), but no ...
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In countries without free press, why don't newspapers simply move overseas?
In regions without free press, or where press are under constant threat of arrest, why don't media organisations move their organisation outside the country on which they report?
For example, if Hong ...
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Is there any government that managed to help local (national) content creators by regulating the big streaming giants?
I have recently heard about the Canadian Bill C-10 and read more about it. There seems to be a lot of criticism about it and few arguments in favor of it:
Pros
"<<The bill is not about ...
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What can US senators do against diversity trainings in the US Army?
Recently, I've read about Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw launching a campaign against diversity training in the US Army:
We won’t let our military fall to woke ideology,
I ...
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Are there modern theories of free speech that account for the inequality of the marketplace of ideas?
Recent critiques of the "marketplace of ideas" theory of free speech have noted inherent shortcomings with this system, namely:
People do not have equal ability to spread their ideas in the ...
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Is it legal to talk about former Chief Justice of India (CJI) in the Parliament of India?
On 8 February 2021, Mahua Moitra said the following in her speech in Lok Sabha during the discussion on motion of thanks on the President's address:
The sacred cow that was the judiciary is no longer ...
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Has the freedom of speech been compromised in the US by social media companies banning Trump? [duplicate]
Freedom of speech is defined as:
The right to express any opinion in public without censorship or
restraint by the government, protected in the United States as a right
under the First Amendment to ...
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How does the international community differentiate between a "rights activist" and a separatist? [closed]
This has been my personal observation for a long time that in some countries, when the government says that they are cracking down on separatism, the so-called "free world" come forward and ...
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Any mechanism in the US to decide what is conspiracy theory, and what is not? [closed]
It is obviously important to divide truth from conspiracy theories. Truth is good, and conspiracy theories are bad and disturbing. But how would common citizen know what is good, and what is bad?
For ...
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What is the status of regulation of Social Media Companies in the US?
Twitter and Facebook (and other social media sites) recently became the focus of a lot of attention for the role they did or did not play in allowing the spread of information (or disinformation) ...
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What are the main schools of thought on the "gray areas" of free speech?
In relation to the Paradox of Tolerance (which roughly states that a society must be intolerant to intolerance of the core ideals of that society if it wishes to persist), a government that extends ...
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Is it a fundamental tenet of liberalism to allow the expression of illiberal ideals?
In recent years, the US has seen a rise in a priori rejection or "cancelling" of illiberal ideas on the left. In essence, these ideas are being rejected from mainstream liberal society ...
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Does US Federal Law explicitly prohibit election misinformation?
According to the latest rumor about pro-Trump influencer arrested on charges of conspiring with others in advance of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election to use various social media platforms to ...
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What is the rationale behind Angela Merkel's criticism of Donald Trump's ban on Twitter?
According to CNBC, Angela Merkel (via her chief spokesman) criticized Donald Trump's ban on Twitter.
“The right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance,”
Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief ...
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What gives the Supreme Court the authority to restrict free speech? [closed]
I am confused as to how they can prevent certain kinds of speech from being used. Doesn't the Constitution say it can't be limited?
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Does the Speech and Debate clause protect members of Congress from prosecution for violent threats made during congressional debates?
The first amendment has been interpreted to have exceptions that don’t protect violent speech, but what about this clause, could Congress members get away with saying literally anything during debates ...
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How did it come to be determined that certain speech is unacceptable? [closed]
What is the decisive point for classifying a certain speech as unacceptable?
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Does freedom of speech mean freedom to mock everything? [closed]
It's widely known that in most western countries, it's allowed to mock religion - because of freedom of speech.
Does freedom of speech allow one to mock everything, or are there taboo subjects that ...
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What actions have governments critical of Macron's response to the murder of Samuel Paty called for?
Following the murder of Samuel Paty in France two weeks ago, Emmanuel Macron gave a speech [fr] in which he defended freedom of expression and said "we won't give up on caricatures". This ...
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Is it illegal for candidates to pay a journalist to publish fake news?
Say candidate A and candidate B both want to be elected president.
Then candidate A pays a journalist to publish an invented story about candidate B. For example where candidate B killed a cat.
Then ...
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Is freedom of expression more important than religious sensitivities? [closed]
Charlie Hebdo is planning to republish the blasphemous cartoons of Muhammad (P.B.U.H), and when the Fresh president Emmanuel Macron was asked whether he will condemn this action, he categorically ...
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What is Trump's social networks executive order about?
I've seen a titles which tell that it's a nightmare for those companies (Google, Facebook, Twitter). But they're pretty vague on it. What exactly does it do to them?
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What has led to Poland's rapid fall in the World Press Freedom Index over the last 5 years?
In the last week, the 2020 World Press Freedom Index was published (map of results here). One thing in particular which stood out to me was Poland's ranking of 62nd overall, along with a rough ...
CDJB♦
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How should the President of the United States handle mass media organizations that discredit him/her?
Presidential administrations in the recent past have fought a very public political battle of words with the media in the United States. The media is a very powerful entity with the power to sway ...
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How many people were sanctioned in Spain for criticizing the police, under Spain's 2015 "citizens security law"?
There have been some [2015] Spanish media reports that after the adoption of the 2015 Citizens Security Law (Ley Orgánica 4/2015), which among other things
forbids "the unauthorized use of images ...
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Why did the US vote against a UN anti-Nazi resolution?
Recently, there was a UN vote (similar to the one in 2017) on a resolution that condemned the glorification of Nazism. As in the previous vote, the USA (along with Ukraine), voted against the motion, ...
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How does Germany justify banning the YPG flag?
According to Wikipedia:
In Germany, there is a ban on PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] symbols that, as of March 2017, is officially extended the YPG [People's Protection Units] and YPJ [Women's ...
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What was the ultimate fate of the 1985 defamation lawsuit against Rep. Don Sundquist?
In a pre-Westfall case (which might as well have motivated the 1988 law that increased Congresspersons' immunity against civil lawsuits), NYT reports (1987)
A Federal appeals court panel has ruled ...
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Are there any (post-Westfall) cases in which the Attorney General refused certification for a defamation lawsuit against a Congressperson?
The Westfall Act (1988) provides strong protection for Congresspersons against civil lawsuits. Part of the procedure that allows this protection to be effective is the fact that following Attorney ...
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