No one was seriously injured, but the incident serves as a reminder of the threats reporters can face in the course of their work. Since we recorded the conversation before the shooting, Nico and Clayton do not address it, but the incident underscores the stakes of their discussion.

—

In 2020, Reporters Without Borders launched the Uncensored Library, a virtual archive housed inside Minecraft, the world’s most popular computer game.

It preserves the work of journalists who have faced censorship, imprisonment, exile, or even death. In countries where their reporting is banned, Minecraft itself is not, making the library a digital sanctuary for suppressed journalism that millions can still access.

In March 2026, the project added a United States wing, reminding Americans that subtler, less direct threats to a free press happen everywhere – even at home.

With today’s release of the 2026 World Press Freedom Index and World Press Freedom Day approaching on May 3, we’re unpacking the state of press freedom with Clayton Weimers, the executive director of Reporters Without Borders USA.

Download The Uncensored Library here.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

04:41 The state of press freedom in the United States

10:51 Trump administration’s threats to press freedom

14:16 Patel v. The Atlantic and actual malice

22:55 Who is to blame for distrust in media?

27:58 Viewpoint diversity in the newsroom

32:15 The modern media ecosystem

40:27 What is RSF?

47:00 Freelance and independent journalism

49:11 Clayton’s background and more on Reporters Without Borders

51:25 Inside the Uncensored Library

01:01:59 Outro

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00:00 Intro

00:57 Does the DOJ have a viable case against James Comey?

04:51 “True threats” and Comey’s case

06:36 Threats against U.S. presidents and Watts v. United States

09:55 Was it a mistake for Comey to take down the “8647” seashell image?

11:18 Can the case be dismissed before it goes to trial?

12:38 Can Comey’s case be considered a selective prosecution?

13:23 Is the process itself a punishment?

15:29 Could prosecutors face consequences for bringing this case?

18:07 Examples of true threats

20:35 “True threat” versus “incitement to imminent lawless action”

22:53 Is it still a “true threat” if charges come a year later?

24:32 Can Comey recover his legal fees?

25:34 Do threats become more real in the wake of other active threats?

26:32 Does the First Amendment differ for speech about the president?

30:06 What’s going on with the FCC and ABC?

34:20 What do NRA v. Vullo and the FCC’s calls to fire Jimmy Kimmel have in common?

35:17 Why does broadcast licensing exist in the internet age?

36:51 Have past presidents historically influenced broadcast licensing?

38:33 Is the Fairness Doctrine still in effect?

40:30 What can ABC do if the FCC takes away their licenses?

42:40 Will ABC fight back?

46:01 Has broadcast media regulation always been a frustration for 1A advocates?

49:20 Humphrey’s Executor & content-based regulation

50:58 Is the FCC independent from the executive branch?

51:45 The past 18 months of FCC action

52:15 Outro

Joining us:

• Conor Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney

• Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy

• Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel

But it also raised civil liberties questions: Do our offline freedoms exist online? And if so, how far do they extend?

Today, those questions are more urgent than ever. Advances in AI have given governments powerful new tools to track, monitor, and analyze our behavior, raising fundamental concerns about the future of free expression in the digital age.

Today we are joined by Cindy Cohn, the executive director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She has spent thirty years as a civil liberties attorney specializing in digital rights, which she documents in her newly published memoir Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

05:17 Why write this book now?

09:11 Does privacy make free speech possible?

14:52 Code as speech: Bernstein v. United States

33:34 The Patriot Act and government spying

51:09 National security letters and Section 702

57:57 Who is Tony Coppolino?

01:06:06 Why EFF left X

01:11:05 What’s next for Cindy

01:13:56 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Intro

01:42 Get your tickets to Soapbox now!

02:28 What did the court decide in Rosado et al. v. Blanche et al.?

07:13 FIRE’s stance on Kash Patel’s lawsuit against The Atlantic

12:40 How can reporters defend against defamation claims without revealing sources?

21:10 Is doxxing law enforcement officers’ home addresses protected speech?

25:49 …

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Around the world, governments are expanding speech restrictions in the name of combating misinformation, hate speech, and extremism, while new technologies make it easier to monitor and control public discourse.

Many free speech advocates warn that these efforts risk eroding democracy itself.

Joining the show to discuss this “global free speech recession” is Jacob Mchangama, a senior fellow at FIRE and the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University, and Jeff Kosseff, a senior fellow at The Future of Free Speech. Their new book is “The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom.”

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:07 Why write this book?

04:40 Where free speech stands in America today

05:53 What is a “global free speech recession”?

11:22 Free speech’s high point and what changed

18:56 Election misinformation, disinformation, and the role of AI

34:40 The EU’s Digital Services Act and the UK’s Online Safety Act

40:00 Are democracies starting to adopt more restrictive speech laws?

43:52 Solutions to reversing the free speech recession

52:25 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

In a world educated by an unverifiable news cycle, how did misinformation shape early American life?

To explore how news, rumor, and misrepresentation influenced the course of the American Revolution and the nation that followed, we are joined by Jordan Taylor, a historian of American history and the author of Misinformation Nation: Foreign News and the Politics of Truth in Revolutionary America.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:05 How colonists got their news

08:28 Why foreign news dominated early newspapers

17:33 How colonial newspapers verified information

22:32 Did miscommunication help spark the Revolution?

29:57 The XYZ Affair and the Sedition Act

39:21 The First Amendment’s original meaning

44:34 Current day parallels

55:41 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Both verdicts found that the companies were negligent in the design or operation of their platforms and that each company knew their platforms could be dangerous when used by a minor.

The courts found that the design elements of the platforms could be separated from the content hosted on the platforms, thus removing the need to consider the First Amendment or Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Joining us to break down the rulings and their possible free speech implications is Mike Masnick, CEO & founder of Techdirt & the Copia Institute.

Masnick is the author of “Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They’re Actually Cheering For.”

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:29 Why these verdicts scare the hell out of Mike

10:34 Are social media algorithms “addictive”?

21:45 Did Meta fail to protect kids?

30:37 The First Amendment and Section 230

43:13 Is social media the new Big Tobacco?

55:15 The role of parents in social media use

59:04: Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

If global platforms are forced to comply with the world’s most restrictive laws, whose speech standards win? And what happens to a free and open internet when governments apply their censorship rules across borders?

Today we are joined by Preston Byrne, an attorney and expert in international law and emerging technologies. He has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of law, tech, and policy, and he now serves as counsel to a coalition of internet publishing platforms suing the United Kingdom’s internet regulator. Follow him on X and Substack.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:15 Preston’s background

16:46 What do foreign censorship laws actually target?

22:35 The UK’s Online Safety Act

29:39 Free speech cultures: US vs. UK

40:48 The GRANITE Act and protecting Americans from foreign censorship

1:01:15 Outro

Don’t miss the free speech event of the year! Get your tickets and learn more about the Soapbox Conference here.

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Intro

2:23 Get your tickets to Soapbox now!

4:16 What is FIRE’s faculty legal defense program?

5:16 What’s going on with Reges v. Cauce and mandatory land acknowledgements?

8:03 Does FIRE take on all academic freedom cases?

11:03 What’s the latest on Mahmoud Khalil?

14:35 Is there a free speech concern around punishing calls for violence?

19:1…

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In this episode, we break down the Pentagon’s targeting of the AI company Anthropic, the push for government-mandated age verification technologies, and the Department of Justice’s raid on a Washington Post reporter’s home.

We are joined by:

• Jennifer Huddleston, senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute

• Mike Godwin, AI and privacy expert, first staff counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, first full-time general counsel at Wikimedia, and author of two books on internet law and policy

• Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of FIRE

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

03:19 The Pentagon vs. Anthropic

22:40 The FTC, Congress, and age verification laws

48:15 Is it unusual for the DOJ to seize a reporter’s computer?

59:46 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Don’t miss the free speech event of the year! Get your tickets and learn more about the Soapbox Conference here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Americans have long relied on anonymous speech to challenge the powerful, protect dissenters, and keep the focus on ideas rather than identities. That tradition has endured into America’s digital age, even as anonymous speech has become more controversial.

To explore America’s history with anonymity, we are joined by Jeff Kosseff, a nonresident senior legal fellow at The Future of Free Speech and author of The United States of Anonymous. Preorder his forthcoming book, The Future of Free Speech: Reversing the Global Decline of Democracy’s Most Essential Freedom.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:01 What is anonymity?

04:38 Anonymous speech in Colonial America

15:58 Does the First Amendment protect anonymity?

20:35 Anonymous speech in the Civil Rights Era

31:17 The internet and anonymity

35:44 Modern anonymity debates: DHS subpoenas, age verification, social media regulation, and VPN bans

51:53 Outro

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Intro

02:07 FIRE in The Philadelphia Inquirer: From ‘cancel culture’ watchdog to Trump antagonist

06:27 Don Lemon’s indictment explained

14:09 Why did a grand jury decline to indict six Democratic lawmakers over their video telling troops to disobey illegal orders?

17:55 Jawboning and FIRE’s lawsuit against Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem for Fac…

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Today we are joined by:

• Clark Neily, senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute

• Timothy Zick, professor of government and citizenship at William & Mary Law School and author of the new book Trump 2.0: Executive Power and the First Amendment

• Conor Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney at FIRE

Zick is also the author of Public Protest and Governmental Immunities, Managed Dissent: The Law of Public Protest, and Arming Public Protests.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:47 ICE protests: Alex Pretti, filming police, and the right to carry a gun

13:30 How to hold law enforcement accountable

19:10 Don Lemon’s arrest

23:27 Trump’s retribution politics and the “domestic terrorist” label

35:05 FCC pressure and attacks on the media

39:40 Free speech for noncitizens

53:49 Attacks on higher education

58:40 Trump 1.0 vs. Trump 2.0

01:02:25 What reforms are needed?

1:09:13 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

Today we are joined by Pouya Nikmand, an Iranian-born writer who escaped Iran at 18. He writes about how his experiences have shaped his understanding of expression, freedom, and belonging on his Substack, Outliving Iran.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:17 What’s happening in Iran now?

10:47 What does life look like under an authoritarian regime?

20:33 Growing up in Iran

24:48 The influence of Western media in Iran

32:55 Escaping Iran

37:05 Life after escape

40:55 Being trafficked to Poland

54:45 Escaping captivity and coming to America

01:01:53 An immigrant’s perspective on US immigration

1:07:24 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

But by the end of his life, he was widely reviled, politically isolated, and personally abandoned. Once celebrated as the voice of liberty, he died an outcast, mourned by only six people at his funeral.

How does one man become the voice of the American Revolution and end up forgotten? To explore Paine’s complicated legacy, we are joined by Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland and author of The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

02:41 Thomas Paine’s early life

10:32 Paine’s arrival in America

20:02 What did Paine argue in Common Sense?

25:11 Why Common Sense was so revolutionary

36:31 The American Crisis and the Revolutionary War

41:35 Why Paine returned to London and wrote The Rights of Man

49:19 Exile from Britain, imprisonment in France, and writing The Age of Reason

01:01:27 Why America turned its back on Paine

01:12:09 Paine’s final days

01:18:50 How should we understand Paine’s legacy today?

01:26:58 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Intro

02:40 Are free speech rights different for US citizens and military retirees like Mark Kelly?

06:45 What free speech rights do private-sector employees have for off-duty social media speech?

10:15 How many universities have adopted the Kalven Committee report?

12:38 Did Renee Good go beyond her protected speech rights?

15:12 Can ICE vi…

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The First Amendment was a way of life for Nat Hentoff. He would have been 100 years old this year. To reflect on his life and legacy, we are joined by his son Nick Hentoff and filmmaker David Lewis, whose 2013 documentary, “The Pleasures of Being Out of Step,” explored Nat Hentoff’s embodiment of free expression as the defining characteristic of the individual.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

00:52 Who was Nat Hentoff?

03:48 Nat’s early life & influences

18:20 Jazz, writing, & finding his voice

31:24 Free speech as a way of being

35:15 Being out of step: Controversy, courage, and consequences

42:08 Rage, compassion, & moral clarity

51:53 Nat Hentoff’s legacy of dissent

55:20 Outro

Read the transcript here.

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Introductions

02:11 What is the Press Clause, and who does it apply to?

05:53 FIRE’s position on Oklahoma student grading incident

08:50 What does FIRE need from Members besides financial support?

15:59 FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings and what they mean

19:44 What is the latest on the Ann Seltzer cases?

22:08 What is FIRE’s view on the Pentagon press room changes?

24:50 What is the value of small donations? How can FIRE supporters volunteer?

29:21 Indiana University is good at football but bad at free speech

33:46 Are courts trending in a more speech-protective direction?

37:05 Charlie Kirk and cancel culture

39:20 Pro- and anti-Zionist speech and “hostile environment” harassment

43:48 Is “globalize the intifada” incitement?

45:07 How does FIRE distinguish between free speech and misinformation?

47:54 Can FIRE help supporters start free speech alumni groups?

48:55 Free speech, artificial intelligence, and copyright/trademarks

51:51 The sordid legacy of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

53:22 Staying hopeful amidst so much hypocrisy

55:32 Global speech platforms and censorship

58:14 Differences between FIRE and the ACLU?

59:34 Does FIRE have a Substack? (The Eternally Radical Idea, So to Speak, Expression)

1:00:03 Closing remarks

Joining us:

• Alisha Glennon, chief operating officer

• Nico Perrino, executive vice president

• Greg Lukianoff, president and ceo

• Will Creeley, legal director

Read the transcript here.

Become a paid subscriber today to receive invitations to future live webinars.

If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

The conversation also explores the broader landscape for political speech and campaign regulation, what legal battles may be next for the Supreme Court, and how both guests found their way into First Amendment advocacy.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

01:32 What is the Institute for Free Speech?

02:39 Personal paths into free speech work

05:10 First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin

32:08 NRSC v. FEC

51:50 What’s next for campaign finance at SCOTUS?

54:58 Outro

Enjoy listening to the podcast? Donate to FIRE today and get exclusive content like member webinars, special episodes, and more. If you became a FIRE Member through a donation to FIRE at thefire.org and would like access to Substack’s paid subscriber podcast feed, please email sotospeak@thefire.org.

00:00 Intro

01:36 What happened to Larry Bushart?

11:26 Is FIRE involved with the three Florida Atlantic University Professors that were suspended?

14:14 FIRE’s Legal Defense Fund

16:09 Can a First Amendment case be considered against Trump for his threat to ABC?

23:52 What the heck is going on with Indiana University?

30:21 What is FIRE doing for …

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