Ep. 240: Is there a global free speech recession?

We travel from America to Europe, Russia, China, and more places to answer the question: Is there a global free speech recession?

Guests:

- Sarah McLaughlin: FIRE senior scholar, global expression

- James Kirchick: FIRE senior fellow

- Jacob Mchangama: FIRE senior fellow

Timestamps:

00:00Intro

03:52Free speech global surveys

07:49Freedom of expression deteriorating

11:43Misinformation and disinformation

18:05Russian state-sponsored media

24:55Europe's Digital Services Act

29:26Chinese censorship

34:33Radio Free Europe

54:57Mohammad cartoons

01:04:14Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack's paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Show notes:

- Authoritarians in the academy: How the internationalization of higher education and borderless censorship threaten free speech Sarah McLaughlin (2025)

- "The First Amendment created gay America" So to Speak (2022)

- "Secret city: The hidden history of gay Washington" James Kirchick (2022)

- "Whoin the world supports free speech?" The Future of Free Speech (2025)

- "V-DEMdemocracy report 2025:25 years of autocratization — democracy trumped?" V-Dem Institute (2025)

- Globalrisks report 2024World Economic Forum (2025)

- "Gay reporter kicked off Kremlin network after protesting anti-gay law" Washington Free Beacon (2013)

- Free speech: A history from Socrates to social media (paperback) Jacob Mchangama (2025)

- Europe's Digital Services Act (DSA) (2022)

- Careless people: A cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism Sarah Wynn-Williams (2025)

- "TheVoice of America falls silent" The New York Times (2025)

- Text of Havel's speech to Congress The Washington Post (1990)

- Voice of America wins in court, for now, as judge blocks Trump administration from firing staff AP News (2025)