A censorship movement is rising in the world's democracies – whether it's British citizens charged over social media posts, France's arrest of the owner of the social media platform Telegram, Brazil's shutting down Elon Musk's X for not complying with censorship restrictions, or Mark Zuckerberg's admission that the Biden White House pressured Facebook and Instagram to censor stories it didn't like.
"This anti-free speech movement is the most sophisticated, largest and global movement we have ever faced," says legal scholar Jonathan Turley, author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.
Turley says, "I think the problem with free speech is that every generation has to defend it. And this generation has never been more divided, because they have been told that free speech is going to hurt them."
A poll last month by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression found nearly one in three Americans now believe the First Amendment "goes too far. "
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz told MSNBC in 2022, "I think we need to push back on this. There's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy."
READ Jonathan Turley Delivers Blunt Message 'Horrific…Censorship'
On the contrary, the freedom to say what the majority doesn't like is the very foundation of a free society. And yet, that bedrock freedom is under attack by governments and political leaders.
An investigation by the Foundation for Freedom Online found documents from Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency or CISA that indicate that as recently as 2021, the agency worked with platforms to censor speech by labeling people posting so-called "misinformation" as "domestic threat actors," a possible First Amendment violation. The website showing the operation was then scrubbed from the internet but was found using the "Wayback Machine."
A CISA spokesman said the agency has never censored anyone, and that the material was probably removed because it created a misunderstanding. But CISA is a part of Homeland Security, which tried to create a disinformation czar.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from USAID, a State Department program intended to strengthen democracies overseas, show that the agency encourages other nations to censor social media.
In other Western democracies, the censorship situation is even worse.
In Great Britain, a nation most Americans used to consider a bastion of democracy, police charge thousands of citizens each year over their social media posts. One video shows an officer at a man's door telling him, "I'm arresting you for improper use of the electronic communications network."
READ UK Police Arrest a Man for Criticizing Palestinian Flags in Social Media Post
Britain's top police official also threatened to extradite Americans who stir up trouble in the UK.
The Europe Union no longer has free speech online, according to technology expert Dr. Norman Lewis with the think tank MCC Brussels. He contends only speech approved by the EU is allowed.
Lewis told us, "What we have operating in Europe is what I like to call a 'censorship operating system.'"
Laws like the EU's Digital Services Act force technology companies to remove content Brussels doesn't like.
"They want to control the public square," Lewis says. "So, formally speaking there's 'free speech,' but when you have such vague definitions as 'hate speech' or any of these new 'woke' ideologies, it's all about controlling speech. So, you can formally uphold 'free speech,' but in reality, it means you curb stuff you don't like."
EU Commissioner Thierry Breton recently threatened Elon Musk over his interview with Donald Trump.
"There really is what I call an 'EU Ministry of Truth,'" Lewis says. "George Orwell would recognize this within a millisecond."
America's First Amendment was written to prevent this kind of censorship, by defending speech the majority finds offensive, insulting and even verbally abusive.
The Supreme Court in Matel v. Tam said the First Amendment protects the freedom to express "the thought that we hate."
Turley says, "Free speech is a natural right. That was how the framers viewed it when they wrote the First Amendment. They believed that free speech was a gift from God, that it belonged to you as a human being. It wasn't granted to you by the government. It's not tolerated by the government. The government has to protect it because it defines you as a human being."
READ 'The Truth Police': Critics Sound Alarm Over Biden's New 'Disinformation' Board
Some believe one reason for the recent riots in Britain is because citizens were not allowed to publicly express their views about mass immigration without being arrested.
Ken Paulson, the former editor-in-chief of USA Today, and Director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, says the First Amendment freedom of speech is vital to America's existence.
"We need an environment in which all ideas can be shared, regardless of merit," Paulson said. "And unless you are able to speak as you wish, then there is no way we remain rich and strong as a nation."
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