"The American Notion of Free Speech"

Five Things You Need to Read Today

Here is your second update of the week, for subscribers only, recommending five stories that are worth catching. Today, the main theme is the parlous state of "the American notion of free speech."

1. The Freedom to Annoy

I mentioned recently that the big social media companies are pushing us toward a weirdly voluntary version of China's "social credit" score. But there is another model for censorship, the one being implemented right now in Britain, where the First Amendment does not exist to provide an obstacle to prosecution for "hate speech." Actually, the British regulations on speech are even more broadly defined than that.

The rest of this article is available only by e-mail to paid subscribers.