The Bedrock Principle

The Bedrock Principle

Home
Commentary
The Free Flow
.exe-pression
Newsletters
About

Commentary

Who Invented Free Speech? | Part 2
Spinoza's radical defense of free speech—and why Dabhoiwala buries it in a footnote.
 • Jacob Mchangama
Who Invented Free Speech? | Part 1
Fara Dabhoiwala's new book, "What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea," commits a serious chronological error.
 • Jacob Mchangama
Reflections on International Human Rights Day
Once the global champion of the fundamental right to free expression, the United States risks undermining that position in both domestic and…
 • Jacob Mchangama
On Europe’s Mounting Free Speech Crisis
I was recently invited by a center-left German think tank to write about Europe’s free speech recession and spoke about it at the UK’s Battle of Ideas…
 • Jacob Mchangama
Reframing The Future of Free Speech in The Online Era
Can free expression survive if we’ve lost the freedom to choose what we hear?
 • Richard Reisman
Two Competing Histories of Free Speech
Fara Dabhoiwala’s new book tells one story of America’s “dangerous idea.” My own reading of history—and the record—tells another.
 • Jacob Mchangama
Punishment Before Trial? 'Hate Speech' Raids in Germany
German “hate speech” laws are already troubling, but their enforcement has become alarmingly disproportionate, unconstitutional, and incompatible with a…
 • Alexander Hohlfeld
My Opening Remarks from The 2025 Global Free Speech Summit
A weekend of bold ideas, fearless voices, and a shared belief that free expression remains the foundation of every free society.
 • Jacob Mchangama
20 Years Later: Reflecting on Cartoons, Free Speech, and The Rise of The 'Jihadist's Veto'
Twenty years ago today, a small Danish newspaper dared to publish 12 cartoons. Not bullets, not bombs. Just ink on paper. But those cartoons detonated a…
 • Jacob Mchangama
Why You Should Care about Algorithms, Free Speech, and Section 230
"I built this algo brick by brick" is more than just a comedic online expression.
 • Ashkhen Kazaryan
Blurred Lines: Death Threats, Hate Speech, and the European Court of Human Rights
A recent judgment from the European Court of Human Rights further stretches the boundaries of hate speech under European human rights law.
 • Natalie Alkiviadou
This Is How You Kill The First Amendment
What Brendan Carr just taught the next generation about free speech.
 • Ashkhen Kazaryan
© 2026 The Future of Free Speech · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture