In the digital age, free speech faces unprecedented threats—not just from authoritarian regimes, but from the algorithms and AI systems that govern online platforms. Once fought in physical spaces, the battlefield for free expression has moved online, where Big Tech and new digital regulations increasingly decide what we can and cannot say. In this talk at the John Templeton Foundation, Professor Jacob Mchangama explores how free speech is being reshaped in the digital realm, where governments and corporations are becoming the new gatekeepers of online expression, and what it means for the future of free speech and democracy.

says Mchangama. “But unfortunately, this is a lesson that has been unlearned by a lot of leaders in democracies today. And this free speech recession affects democracy in very significant ways.” 

Jacob Mchangama is the Founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He has commented extensively on free speech and human rights in outlets including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy. He is the producer and narrator of the podcast Clear and Present Danger: A History of Free Speech and the critically acclaimed book Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media, published by Basic Books in 2022. 

Prof. Mchangama is the Project Leader of the $999K active grant, #62805 “The Future of Free Speech” from August 2023 to May 2026. He was also the Project Leader of two closed grants totalling over $1.88M: #61610, “The Future of Free Speech: Rebuilding the Bulwark of Liberty,” from March 2020 to November 2022, and #29634, “The Freedom Rights Project: Bringing Human Rights Back Home” from May 2012 to July 2014.

Learn more about the John Templeton Foundation’s funding of projects related to Individual Freedom & Free Markets.