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.

ADAMS AND JEFFERSON MANAGED TO RECONCILE, SO MAYBE AMERICA IS NOT ENTIRELY DOOMED. FIRE’s new Blessings of Liberty podcast with Jeffrey Rosen launches with Justice Neil Gorsuch and a reminder that disagreement is not disloyalty, even when the disagreement is bitter enough to end a friendship for a decade.

FREE SPEECH IS A REALITY-TESTING MACHINE: I’ve argued that defending speech has always been about more than politics. It is how we discover what is false. Used well, AI could extend that project by challenging human knowledge at scale.

FREE SPEECH IS HOW WE CREATE KNOWLEDGE: Not because every idea is true, but because claims have to be challenged, criticized, tested, and forced to survive contact with reality. That is why I’m interested in AI: used well, it could help us test assumptions and discover when we are wrong.

NEW PODCAST FOR PEOPLE WHO THINK THE CONSTITUTION IS MORE THAN WALL ART. FIRE launched Blessings of Liberty, hosted by Jeffrey Rosen, to argue over, defend, and actually understand the Constitution, with Justice Neil Gorsuch as the first guest.

THE CAMPUS LEFT BUILT A CONFORMITY MACHINE. Higher ed is supposed to test assumptions, not run students and faculty through DEI statements, cancellation campaigns, self-censorship, and ideological pressure until they learn to stay quiet.

THE MORALITY POLICE ALWAYS COME FOR SPEECH FIRST. Anthony Comstock thought the federal government should help him decide what Americans were allowed to read, say, and believe.

STATE-APPROVED NEWS BOOSTS: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? This week’s roundup starts with Germany weighing algorithmic favoritism for approved outlets, then turns to Americans distrusting government social media regulation and faculty politics drifting left.

AMERICANS RIGHTFULLY DON’T TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO REGULATE SOCIAL MEDIA. This week’s roundup starts with FIRE’s latest National Speech Index, then turns to Germany weighing state-approved algorithm boosts, and what faculty politics drifting left means.

THE FOUNDERS DID NOT JUST FIGHT A REVOLUTION. THEY ARGUED ONE INTO EXISTENCE. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense helped make independence imaginable, defensible, and finally unavoidable.

NEW DATA SHOW POLITICALLY ACTIVE FACULTY DONORS ARE ALMOST AS PROGRESSIVE AS BERNIE SANDERS AND ELIZABETH WARREN. There’s a serious problem of ideological clustering inside institutions whose job is to test assumptions, not protect them.

WELL, THIS IS ON THE NOSE: Narcissist’s Playbook, a documentary about malignant narcissism and manipulation, is reportedly facing legal takedown attempts from someone featured in the film.

TRYING TO SUPPRESS A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT MANIPULATION IS NOT A GREAT STRATEGY: It is, however, a remarkable case of accidentally writing the marketing copy for the Narcissist’s Playbook documentary.

APPARENTLY, THE FASTEST WAY TO BECOME AN ‘EXPERT’ ON CODDLING IS TO NOT READ IT. Coddling argues students are not spoiled snowflakes, but capable, resilient people being taught to confuse discomfort with danger.