The Free Speech Union

The death of Jason Arday has triggered calls for press regulation and censorship, including an “Arday’s Law” to limit the number of articles written about one person.
Graeme Wood is a free speech absolutist and a staff writer at The Atlantic. He joins the Free Speech Union’s Director of Research and Policy, David Rose, to discuss the Jason Arday plagiarism scandal, the backlash against journalists, and why calls for state regulation of the press should alarm anyone who values free speech.
#freespeech #censorshipdebate #pressfreedom
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Read Graeme Wood's article in The Atlantic: "Jason Arday’s Final Self-Delusion Elevating a fraud is shameful. Exposing one isn’t." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/08/jason-arday-death-lies-delusion/688311/
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Collin May had a successful academic and professional career, culiminating in his appointment in 2022 as chair of the Human Rights Commission for the Canadian province of Alberta.
But May's 2009 review of an academic book about Islam was about to destroy his career.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims, a lobby group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, claimed that passages in May's review were offensive and Islamophobic. May was sacked after defending his review and refusing to resign.
In this powerful interview, May explains how this resulted him losing his home and his reputation. But the experience also inspired his book about cancel culture's evolution into something even more dangerous: “incarceration culture”.
Collin May is now the reserach director of the Free Speech Union Canada.
#freespeech #censorshipdebate #cancelculture
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Collin May is the author of "From Cancel Culture to Incarceration Culture: Prosecutorial Democracy and the Future of Cancellation" https://www.amazon.com/Cancel-Culture-Incarceration-Prosecutorial-Cancellation/dp/1680533703/ref=sr_1_1?crid=27W0VIQHAC3K5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.J8DAk3dQCAmI833r5a1NghwsrksvmTNq7LFkf1yDkmgqYNibkEuMqMHiIspFCvRvclei4HNbZI-Ghqf6UPPnuw.-ckc1S7E8I1Iv10ZwAa51gzhWiIAOK1Gq0azkaovpbo&dib_tag=se&keywords=from+cancel+culture+to+incarceration+culture&qid=1786989661&sprefix=from+cancel+culture+to+incarcaration+cultu%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-1
 

The Charlie Hebdo attack divided Prof Matei Candea's friends. It also prompted him to embark on an anthropological study of free speech.
The result is "Reason, Carnival and Honour: An Anthropology of Free Speech", a book which explores the hidden assumptions behind free speech debates.
Professor Candea discusses his book with Dr Jan MacVarish, the Free Speech Union's director of national engagement.
#freespeech #censorshipdebate
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Buy Professor Matei Candea’s book, Reason, Carnival and Honour, published by Pelican: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241711258?tag=prhmarketing2552-21
Professor Matei Candea’s website: https://www.candea.org/
 

Comedian, author and commentator Andrew Doyle joins FSU General Secretary Lord Young to discuss a little-noticed government-commissioned report on misinformation and its implications for public debate.
The report's Orwellian proposals include "psychological inoculation", "pre-bunking" and game-based "interventions" to steer the public towards state-approved political messages.
Andrew Doyle and Lord Young also discuss:
Why Andrew and Graham Linehan are working from Arizona
Government proposals to give prominence online to approved news sources such as the BBC and Channel 4 News
#freespeech #censorshipdebate #onlinesafety
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Andrew's Substack: https://substack.com/@andrewdoyle
Read Andrew Doyle's Substack article about proposals to "inoculate" us against "wrongthink": https://www.andrewdoyle.org/p/the-government-report-that-wants
Read Lord Young's Spectator article on the dangers of policing misinformation: https://spectator.com/article/the-dangers-of-policing-misinformation/
Read the report commissioned by the UK government's Office for Science, "False and Misleading Information: An Evidence Summary and Map for Policy and Practice" here: https://usher.ed.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-05/False%20and%20Misleading%20Information%3A%20An%20Evidence%20Summary%20and%20Map%20for%20Policy%20and%20Practice%20.pdf
 

Sentenced to 31 months in prison for a tweet posted in anger after the Southport murders in 2024, Lucy Connolly pleaded guilty to inciting racial hatred. But should she have opted for a jury trial instead? One year after her release from prison, she talks to the FSU's Connie Shaw about her new life as a free speech campaigner and the author of A Tweet Too Far?
#freespeech #twotierpolicing
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Leaked documents obtained by investigative journalist Paul Holden revealed an anti-free speech project at the heart of the Starmer government.
In this edition of the Free Speech Union's podcast, Holden tells the FSU's David Rose why he fears free speech and online privacy could be further eroded under incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
#freespeech #onlineprivacy #labourparty
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Paul is Director of Investigations at Shadow World Investigations: https://shadowworldinvestigations.org/
He is the author of "The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy"
 

The latest threat to free speech on trans issues has been published by the government.
The draft Conversion Practices Bill purports to protect gay and trans people from abuse. It creates a new criminal offence, punishable with up to five years in prison.
Minister for Equalities, Emily Bailey MP, claims it won't stop parents and therapists talking openly to children with identity issues. She says it only crimnalises conversion practices which are abusive and which cause serious harm. However, James Esses, a therapist and campaigner who challenges children who believe they are "trapped in the wrong body" argues that the proposed new law puts him at risk of jail. #freespeech #transgender
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James's home page: https://jamesesses.com/
 

The UK government plans to ban social media for under 16s. Is it digital ID by stealth? The Free Speech Union's general secretary, Lord Young, answers this and other questions sent in by FSU members.
*Will VPNs might be banned?
*Is it true that the ban won't apply to Bluesky?
*How will it be enforced?
*How has a similar ban worked in Australia?
*Will it lead to more censorship and regulation of the media?
 
Hosted by Jan McVarish, the FSU's education and events director. #freespeech #socialmediaban #digitalidentity
 
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Investigative reporter Nick Wallis played a leading role in exposing the Post Office scandal. His BBC documentaries helped uncover the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history and led to a public inquiry. Now Nick's turning his journalistic skills to exposing the medical and safeguarding harms caused by trans ideology. But this time, he doesn't have the backing of the BBC. "I got involved when it became a free speech issue," he tells the Free Speech Union's Connie Shaw. #freespeech #transgender #bbcnews
 
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Donate to and follow Nick's work on trans: https://genderblog.net/
Donate to and follow Nick's work on the Post Office Scandal: https://www.postofficescandal.uk/

Former UK government Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho MP reveals how civil service "group think" stopped questioning of Net Zero. From misleading costings to attempts to silence dissent, Coutinho reveals why she believes the Climate Change Act needs a total reset. #freespeech #netzero #climatechange
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