THIS WEEK IN “NO, YOU DON’T GET TO CENSOR THAT”: The future of AI speech, campus free speech fights, First Amendment absurdities, and the latest victories (and setbacks) for free expression.

THE MOST IMPORTANT FREE SPEECH FIGHT SINCE THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNET? That’s Nico Perrino’s case for why the coming battles over AI and social media will determine whether the First Amendment survives the digital age.

IDA B. WELLS HAD A SPINE OF STEEL. Wells understood that ordered liberty depends on citizens brave enough to tell the truth, even when the mob demands silence.

FREE SPEECH DOES NOT EXPIRE WHEN TECHNOLOGY CHANGES. Nico Perrino explains why social media, AI, and age verification are tests of whether the First Amendment still restrains government where speech actually happens.

THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS NOT A FAIR-WEATHER PRINCIPLE. The push to control social media and AI in the name of safety is a test of whether we still believe the government should be restrained when speech is messy, new, unpopular, or inconvenient.

NEW: FIRE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT NICO PERRINO ON THE MOST IMPORTANT FREE SPEECH FIGHT SINCE THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNET: The fight over social media and AI is really a fight over whether free speech will survive the digital age.

FREE SPEECH BELONGS TO EVERYONE OR IT BELONGS TO NO ONE. In my TED Talk, I dive into this concept through four truths everyone should understand about free speech.

THE STATE OF FREE SPEECH IN EUROPE IS EVEN WORSE THAN I THOUGHT. Once a country gets comfortable treating offensive memes, private texts, and unfashionable opinions as police matters, identity verification stops looking like safety infrastructure and starts looking like a searchable database for the next speech crime.

THE UK’S FREE SPEECH BACKSLIDE CONTINUES. Britain’s “under-16” social media ban sounds like child protection, but in practice it could mean age checks for everyone, including adults who want to speak anonymously online.

THIS WEEK IN “THAT’S NOT HOW THE FIRST AMENDMENT WORKS”: AI panic, New York’s warning-label fever, school-board speech policing, FIRE victory in Wisconsin, & Saul Goodman returns!

BRITS MAY SOON SAY GOODBYE TO AN ANONYMOUS INTERNET: The UK’s teen social media ban is being sold as child protection, but age checks for kids often mean ID checks for everyone. Funny how “online safety” keeps turning into a surveillance architecture.

THE PEOPLE COME BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT. That’s the point of the First Amendment. Citizens think, speak, publish, gather, and petition and the government listens, not the other way around. The latest Blessings Of Liberty podcast dives into that idea.

THE TRUTH NEEDS THE WEIRDOS. Not because the lizard-people-under-the-Denver-airport theory is right. Because knowing who believes it is useful.

HERE IS ANOTHER ENTRY IN THE LONG RECORD OF PROGRESSIVE HYPOCRISY: Woodrow Wilson censored newspapers, jailed dissenters, targeted anti-war critics, and punished suffragists. The more you learn about him, the worse it gets.

GERMANY TAKES AI SPEECH TO COURT: A German ruling reportedly treats Google’s AI Overviews as Google’s own words. Say what you will about America, but the First Amendment remains a pretty good firewall. More in this week’s update.

OUTSOURCED CENSORSHIP IS STILL CENSORSHIP: The government cannot launder speech suppression through private companies and call it constitutional, which is why FIRE backs the JAWBONE Act.

MILL’S TRIDENT FOR THE WIN!: In The War on Words, Nadine Strossen and I explain why you may be wrong, partly right, or even right, but in every case you need disagreement to correct you, sharpen you, or force you to understand why you’re right.

BIDEN’S CENSORSHIP PRESSURE CAMPAIGN WASN’T A FLUKE: His administration pressured platforms over elections and COVID-19, showing how easily officials can use private companies to censor speech they can’t ban themselves. The JAWBONE Act would help stop that abuse.

JAWBONING IS CENSORSHIP BY PROXY: Government officials  know they can’t ban protected speech, so they lean on private companies to do the dirty work. The bipartisan JAWBONE Act would help expose that pressure and give victims a way to fight back.

GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP DOESN’T GET BETTER WHEN IT’S OUTSOURCED: If officials can’t ban speech directly, they shouldn’t get to pressure platforms, AI companies, or broadcasters to do it for them. Sens. Cruz and Wyden’s JAWBONE Act would help victims fight back.

THE FOUNDERS DIDN’T RISK EVERYTHING SO WE COULD OUTSOURCE SELF-GOVERNMENT. Justice Neil Gorsuch joins @RosenJeffrey on The Blessings of Liberty to discuss the Revolution, ordered liberty, and the radical American claim that our rights do not come from kings.

CERTAINTY IS WHERE LEARNING GOES TO DIE. John Cleese gets it. Comedy is what happens when certainty is forced to sit down, shut up, and remember it might be wrong.

FREE SPEECH IS A TEST OF THE MIND. Our brains are quick to treat disagreement as danger. Speak Freely, Think Critically explores what neuroscience can teach us about resisting that impulse and defending open debate.

WHAT DOES THE FIRST AMENDMENT SAY ABOUT SHREK’S SCHLONG? Not much, specifically, but it has plenty to say about criticizing government officials, even when that criticism is vulgar, offensive, or deeply weird.