Ada Palmer on the history of censorship from the Renaissance to AI
So to Speak: The Free Speech PodcastEp. 277
Censorship is often associated with authoritarian governments...
FIRE Newsdesk
Free speech news as it happens from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression covering civil rights advocacy and First Amendment litigation.
Press Releases
Introducing Soapbox 2026: Free speech – still revolutionary!
News
FIRE is launching Soapbox 2026 — our bold new conference dedicated to the power of expression, the courage of dissent, and the timeless value of speaking freely.
What does AI have to do with the First Amendment?
Analysis
Applying First Amendment principles to AI-generated expression is both a natural extension of those principles and a necessary step to prevent those principles’ weakening in other applications, including in areas like newspapers and video games.
Illinois' doomed plan to tax social media
Analysis
Illinois can tax income — not speech. Its new social media fee targets platforms for user content, inviting a First Amendment fight.
FIRE backs JAWBONE Act to end backdoor censorship
Analysis
FIRE backs the bipartisan JAWBONE Act to curb government jawboning, boost transparency, and protect free speech online.
Figures of Speech
As America marks 250 years of independence, FIRE looks back at the moments that tested the freedoms at the heart of the American experiment.
Explore the heroes and villains of free speech in American history
Woodrow Wilson: America’s worst president for free speech
Analysis
Before he championed democracy abroad, Woodrow Wilson built America's first modern censorship regime, jailing dissenters and crushing opposition in the name of war.
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, activist, civil rights icon, and free speech hero
Analysis
In 1892, a mob destroyed a Memphis newspaper after it published an anti lynching editorial. Through death threats and violence, they tried to erase journalist Ida B. Wells’s message. Instead, they made her fight impossible to ignore.
Thomas Paine: American history’s winter soldier
Analysis
Two hundred fifty years after "Common Sense," Thomas Paine’s life reminds us that free speech and free thought are the lifeblood of a free society.
How Anthony Comstock became America’s most powerful censor
Analysis
Anthony Comstock turned Victorian panic into federal censorship, criminalizing “obscene” speech and policing American morality. This is his story.
WATCH VIDEO: FIRE sits down with students who witnessed the Charlie Kirk shooting and explores a question that now confronts the nation: Is free speech the cause of political violence, or the only alternative to it?
Charlie Kirk’s death and the fight for free speech
FIRE Documentary
After the murder of Charlie Kirk at a Turning Point USA campus event, the country was left debating the future of free speech. Featuring firsthand accounts, difficult conversations, and an unflinching look at the First Amendment, FIRE asks what it really means to coexist in a country where disagreements are not small, and sometimes are life and death.
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Expression
From breaking news analysis and legal battles to cultural trends, this is where we go beyond the headlines — taking you into the fight to defend the First Amendment and bringing you the stories that shape free speech in America.
The Eternally Radical Idea
What is the Eternally Radical Idea? It is freedom of speech. The unfettered right to state your opinion is extremely rare in human history. Check out FIRE CEO Greg Lukianoff's blog on Substack.
So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast
We are a podcast community that explores free speech: not just free speech’s applicability under the law, but also its place in our life and culture.
Free Speech Dispatch
Brought to you by FIRE's Senior Scholar for Global Expression, the Free Speech Dispatch is a regular series covering new and continuing censorship trends and challenges around the world. Our goal is to help readers better understand the global context of free expression.
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